Fastball
by Nghi
Summary: [AU] It wasn’t just a game; it was a life for Kagome. But it isn’t so easy to reach a dream when you’ve got hounding teachers, nagging parents, and an (attractive) arrogant boy on your back.
1. Prologue

**Fastball**

**Summary**: AU It wasn't just a game; it was a life for Kagome. But it isn't so easy to reach a dream when you've got hounding teachers, nagging parents, and an (attractive) arrogant boy on your back.

**A/N**: The weirdest things just inspire me; this time it's from the movie _Love and Basketball_ and the end of my Microsoft Word 60-Day Trial. I know the movie sounds corny, and the MW expiration thing was weird, but a. the movie was so incredibly awesome, and b. I'm using Microsoft Processor now. Will the story end happily? Who knows!

**Disclaimer**: Who, me? I own no Inu-Yasha. Talk it over with someone else, buddy.

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Prologue

Nghi

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She reminisced nineteen years before- it was strange, because it wasn't like her to remember what she had for breakfast yesterday morning, let alone what had happened almost two decades earlier. But here she was, sitting at the French-décor café with a small cup of coffee in hand and thinking about a little Osaka boy who had made off with her heart once upon a time.

How had it happened, she mused, cocking her head lightly. She remembered hating him, teasing him, pushing him, hugging him, kissing him…. The bad was quick and blurred, and all she could think about- all that her mind would let her think about- was his smell, his eyes, and his smooth, tanned skin in later years.

The coffee was only slightly more than half-full, but her head was more than half-empty already, and she hummed a French tune absently to go along with her surroundings; for once the paparazzi hadn't followed her into such a private and reserved place, and she grinned at a moment's peace. Being so famous had done nothing to alleviate her stress level, and she hadn't been able to take anymore exacerbation and provocation without someone by her side.

The smile faltered accidentally, and she held onto those evanescent feelings for as long as could. Then came the flood of horrible memories- the fights, the hurtful words, the infidelity… and the breakups. She remembered the last ending he gave her, all bitter and no sweet, and she knew it was too long ago and a day to cry over spilt milk and that it would take a lot more to break her than a little, Osaka boy.

The T.V. began talking to the lolling audience, and it pulled her out of the beaten, wayward path just in time to hear"To the big event of sports year, Furiko Inuyasha has been in the hospital for a while now. It is more than a little injury, unfortunately, and fans will be disappointed to hear that he has formally announced his plan to sit out for the rest of the year." A big man nearby groaned loudly and muttered to the gods. "This could be more than a cost for the star player's bill- it might cost the 25 year-old's baseball team the championship this season. More on that with Kaozumi…."

The pastry-cook from behind the counter drawled something that sounded French and sympathetic, and she guessed it was somewhere along the lines of, "Pity." It was true, though, and she quietly agreed; without the backbone of the team, how could they even think about winning? "This is truly one of the most shocking events that has happened in the history of baseball," Kaozumi was saying, and she began to pay a little more attention. "Tabloids have been spreading rumors about this for many weeks, about why Furiko has been out of commission for too long- and especially during one of the most intense seasons. Finally, a reluctant Coach Akiro has scheduled a press interview, and all questions have been answered. For one thing, there was no sex scandal involving him and a fifteen year old minor-" she wrinkled her nose. "-and there were no legal actions against the November restaurant fiasco. On the contrary, both arguments have been settled out of court, and Furiko's reputation remains clean… for now." Kaozumi shifted his glasses further up the bridge of his nose, and she sneered at him silently for making a famous baseball athlete sound like a petty criminal.

"But the latest is sure to shock and displease more fans than ever before- late last March, Inuyasha seems to have torn his ACL during the match against the Dragons." She watched, unfazed as the channel repeated an old segment clip. "Towards the end of the home run, Furiko made a dive for the base, and he strained his leg in the process of it. Upon further X-Rays, the doctors have concluded that it was the long-term effect of putting too much strain on the knee-"

The T.V. shut off, and the baker looked around wildly. "Que! Qui a fait ceci?" He stopped short of a rant, seeing a boy with the dusty remote control in hand. "Vous, le petit garçon, allumez le T.V. maintenant!" The jolly man stamped a few times with his foot and held out a hand for emphasis, but the boy shook his head. "J'appellerai la **police **si vous ne donnez pas me soutient la télécommande!"

It was all a blur of French and tongue rolling, and she was certain no one else understood the pretty language. But the familiarity of the word 'police' was there, and the little child flung the remote at the man. "Take it then," he snapped angrily. "But I don't need to hear stuff like that about my favorite team." He took off after quickly with his mother trailing after him like a mother goose. She apologized intermittently with the boy's name ("Ryo, Ryo!"), and the baker just rolled his eyes. "Gosses," he muttered under his breath before turning on the television.

It was the end of the report, she realized with a sinking heart; but still, it was better than nothing. It had been eight months of nothing, and everyone was so busy, so at least she would know how he was. Then the news channel did something she never expected- the screen switched from Kaozumi's face to Inuyasha's. "Am I on? Oh- OK. Hey, fans." He waved a little bit from behind the big cast on his leg, and she thought he looked ridiculously cute. "This is Furiko Inuyasha from the Youkai no Tora. Unfortunately, I am confined to this beep piece of beep for about three beep years. And just my luck that it's the beep finals this year." He sighed dramatically, and she wondered if he realized that half the population of Japan had been watching him just then.

"So anyways, send me lots of get-well cards and flowers, everyone. I'm sure I can heal faster with your support." He grinned winningly, and she shook her head. Still saccharine after all this time… and right after such a disgraceful speech, too.

"OK, am I done now? Is the damn thing-" The camera switched back again over to a slightly irate Kaozumi. "This has been Naka Kaozumi, Channel Four."

The room was thoughtful as the news switched over to a few commercials. Then"Ooh, I'm going to buy those pretty tulips I found today and send them to Mr. Furiko!" one woman exclaimed giddily. As soon as the poor lady announced her intentions, suddenly everyone began experiencing a phenomenon one could describe as a 'shopping panic'.

"I'm going to make him a carrrrrrrd!"

"Mr. Furiko likes roses, right? I'm sure he does- I got a ton of those around!"

"I have sixty gazillion fake flowers, and I took flower arrangement classes, too!"

"I'm going to buy him a cute, little teddy bear so he can hug it to sleep every night!"

"Qui a besoin des fleurs? Je vais l'envoyer certains des meilleurs croissants dans le monde!"

Amidst the attempts to clamor into neighborhood stores or purchasing a dozen postage stamps or baking crispy croissants or just frankly trying to outdo one another in terms of who could be more gracious, only she stayed behind, still stirring her lukewarm coffee. She wasn't even sure if she would do anything; she had the visitation access, but it would certainly be most awkward after such a long time in their stagnant relationship- no, 'friendship'. Did she even _want_ to meet him?

More importantly, did _he_ want to meet her?

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	2. Chapter One: First Base

**Fastball**

**A/N**: OK. I would put this big explanation of how the timeline works, but I'll just let you all figure it out yourselves. Self-explanatory, anyways.

**Disclaimer**: There is a reason why I quit the legal field two years ago.

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Chapter One: First Base

Nghi

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Moving was a hard thing for a child, especially when you're such a popular one, too. It would take a serious miracle and then some to persuade your parents to breach a contract, file a lawsuit against the people who had bought the house, file another lawsuit against the people who had sold the house, accept the loss of thousands of money invested in the U-Haul moving company, face a serious opposition towards the superior in the division of office your parents worked in, and face a legal action where you would be forced off the land.

But it was 1991, and she was eleven years old; she believed she was grown-up to make her own decisions on important matters (Peanut butter or jelly?), and she believed she had a voice in the actions decided around the house. "Dear Mother," she began primly, "I do not think this is a wise thing to do."

"And why is that, dear?" the older woman asked, bemused. "What is not a wise thing to do?"

Kagome would have erupted into a massive hissy fit, had it not been for her rigorous lessons with Grandpa Higurashi on filial piety; instead, she opted for sighing loudly. "We've been over this at least five hundred times, Mother." She drummed her finger impatiently against the side of the car. "Let me tell you the reasons again."

"All right, dear." She was smart enough to recognize when Mother Higurashi was humoring her daughter for a giggle fit. It was unfunny and uncool, and she half-heartedly wished she was a spoiled little brat living in a mansion, like her American friend Chelsea. But this family wasn't so overabundant with the income, so she hoped that drilling the reasons into her mother's head one more time would do the trick, and maybe Mother would have enough common sense to turn the car around and hitch it back to Tokyo. Ah, Tokyo… Kagome was beginning to miss the busy streetlights and neon signs and the stale smell of gasoline burns in the air already….

"Reason number one- I am away from my friends. And I don't want to make new ones, either; I'm perfectly happy with my old friends, and although I am capable of finding people to hang out with at recess, it's just not the same as my Tokyo friends." She saw Mother Higurashi nod sagely in the mirror, and this was new. Finally- aggressive repetition, not aggressive response, was finally getting somewhere!

"Reason number two- our dogs. Remember Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask? They were the most adorable dogs ever, and we could not take them with us to the new house. We had to give them away because we were moving! I miss the feel of Sailor Moon's paws on my cheeks, and Tuxedo Mask's slobber all over my hands. How could we give them away to our neighbors?" It was injustice, and Kagome remembered the way those two pairs of eyes stared sadly at her as Mrs. Aso shooed them into her apartment. She had vowed then and there to argue on their behalf and- someday- rescue them from Mrs. Aso's evil, stale cat food.

Mother tipped her head, as if she was deciding whether to turn around; there was a mocking gleam in her eyes, and Kagome felt she still had a chance to dissuade her parent from committing the biggest mistake in her life. "And the last reason why we should turn this car around is because of Osaka's craptastic little league team."

"Kagome!" Mother Higurashi scolded for the dirty language, and she slouched in her seat, quietly sulking. Whatever little doubt in the back of her mother's head about the move was gone because she just had to let her mouth slip a little bit.

Grandpa Higurashi chuckled at his granddaughter, thoroughly amused until his daughter-in-law whipped her head to the side. "Father, I don't think it's funny," she retorted, and he stopped. "Of course, of course," he agreed. "It was hilarious."

"Father!" Mother was distressed at his lax behavior, and Kagome would have played along; but as the present situation stood, he was on the track of totaling their only chance of returning to sweet and safe Tokyo. "Don't encourage her mouth. Honestly, I don't know where she gets these vile words from…."

"But you must admit, Ayumi, that Kagome has a point," Grandpa said helpfully. "Osaka's team is horrible- how will she ever bud her career if she works with minimum potential? Tokyo would have been a better place for her to develop her skills."

"And I don't want that to happen at all," Ayumi replied sourly- she gave a small stomp with her heels to emphasize the power behind the meaning. The conversation was growing way out of Kagome's depth, and she wisely chose to stay quiet. "She's only eleven years old; better now than ever, right?"

Grandpa sighed and rubbed his hands slowly. "But the girl can't stay in the quiet suburban life forever; once she's had a taste of foreign, she's going to want to come back for more. In the end, she will come back to Tokyo. It is inevitable."

Mother gripped the edge of the steering wheel. "Well, I don't want her to stray too far from her culture and heritage; with today, things are spinning way out of control. She needs stability in her life, and living in Tokyo was anything but. Kagome was also learning some new, unnecessary words in the households." She sent a pointed look his way.

"But look at her potential for athleticism. She's a fast runner, she's active for her age, and she can wield a bat like her grandpa."

"Don't be so proud, Father. That's why I don't want to be there; Kagome is a girl, not a boy. This is just a minor phase the girl is going through. She got her stubbornness from your son, I'm sure."

Grandpa made a strangled noise, and Mother interrupted before he could start. "When Souta gets older, you can teach him; we've a boy in the family, too. So why not teach him your greatest skills and leave Kagome be?"

"I might not be alive," he muttered, but the defiant mumble was overrode by Kagome's shrill voice. "What do you mean by Grandpa leaving me alone?"

Ayumi looked in the rearview mirror for the umpteenth time today, exhausted from everything. "This is an adult conversation, and you must remember filial piety-"

"Forget filial piety!" she ignored the prompt, repulsive gasp. "Why can't Grandpa teach me his tricks? Why do you have to make decisions for me every time he talks to me?"

"Young lady, you watch your mouth-"

But Kagome was too excited to notice a fair warning. "Why are you always against me and baseball? If this is only a 'phase', then why have I been so into it for the past five years? Why have I been collecting baseball cards? Why have I been practicing everyday, even long after Dad died and you bid off all his collections? Why-"

"Kagome Higurashi, you shut your fresh, little mouth or I will stop the car, pull you out, and give you the hardest smack in your life!" Ayumi roared from the front seat, and her daughter realized she had gone too far. But she had made her point across, and her mother did not answer the question for the rest of the ride.

Slouching against the seat, Kagome avoided looking at her mother; Mrs. Ayumi 'Mother' Higurashi was the most infuriating person she had ever met, and she softly practiced meditation breathing to calm her nerves. Grandpa was silent now; he didn't dare start any conversation with either Higurashi women. This was the problem with the family; whether married or blood-related, all Higurashi females require a temper or stubbornness restraints. He resisted the urge to say what he was thinking out loud.

"Anyways, it's too late to turn back for Tokyo; we're here at the new house, and that's that," Mother said finally but resolutely before turning into a black driveway.

Kagome didn't speak; sometimes being an eleven year old was hard. You can't make your own decisions (I said I didn't want peanut butter or jelly.), and no one pays attention to what you have to say. _I hate her, I hate her, I hate her_, she thought vehemently, and when Mother took the car keys out of the engine, Kagome grabbed her purple duffel bag and bolted out of the door. "Kagome! Kagome! Where are you going? Kagome!"

She ignored her mother's frantic shouts and continued running; she was far too fast for the old woman, and her tangled mess of a hair whipped behind her as she ran blindly anywhere. There was no time to explore or marvel at her first house; if she stayed around her mother for one more moment, she would explode and do something drastic, like 'accidentally' hit a ball into a window pane.

_I can't believe Mom would go against what I wanted_, she thought before her foot hit a rock jutted up from beneath the soil. Kagome swayed for a few moments, caught between tripping and regaining balance, and then screamed as she began to topple down the sloping hill. _Why wasn't I watching where I was going?_

Luckily, the hard, dirt floor was there to catch her, and she unceremoniously landed on her head at the base of the hill. "Ow…." Great, now Mother would have a field day about her ruined blouse and smudged face.

Wait… when was normal grass dirt mahogany-colored? And when were there white lines going from one square to another…?

"Stupid, get out of the way," a rough voice ordered, and she quickly righted herself up to see where she had arrived.

Just a few minutes away from her home… was a baseball field.

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	3. Chapter Two: First Base

**Fastball**

**A/N**: Don't get any wrong ideas about the chapter titles being first base and all that stuff. Oi.

**Disclaimer**: Tell you what- have your lawyer call my lawyer, and we'll work things out.

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Chapter Two:

Nghi

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Oh, it was so grand to her very own baseball field near her home! Kagome squealed, having promptly forgotten about the nasty squabble she had with Mother in the car. All that mattered was that she had her very own field to play with everyday! And the weather in Osaka was supposed to be mild and nice, so that meant everyday could be a baseball day! She could drag her bat and ball out and hit it and practice running around the bases to increase her strength, and she would practice sliding just like the Golden Glove of 1987-

"Oi, are you deaf or something? I said, get out of the way!" The impatient voice knocked her out of the happy stupor, and she turned her head to see who was talking.

Surprise, surprise, it was a fellow from the neighborhood, and a strange-looking one at that, too. For one thing he had long hair, like those fairytale books. And for another, he was tanner than most people. "Oh, sorry about that!" Kagome was swiftly back on foot, her duffel bag over her shoulder. "You must be into baseball, too! I'm Kagome-"

"Yeah, yeah, just get out of the way," the boy repeated with an indifferent wave, and she couldn't help but feel a little hurt by the brusque greeting… if it was even a greeting at all. But she decided to let it pass- maybe he was having bad luck with the bat today. When he glared at her one more time, Kagome realized she was playing an unwanted short stop and quickly scooted off to the side. "All right, Sesshoumaru, now that _everyone's_ out of the way," the boy made it a point to stare at her condescendingly, and she began to think it was just more than an unfriendly salutation. "throw the ball as fast as you can."

Ah, so the blond male was Sesshoumaru. She made a quick note to remember that later on and watched as he threw a magnificent curve ball; the boy swung his bat round and cleverly missed by about twenty-seven degrees. "Goddammit," he raged, beginning to beat the ground with the stick, and she stifled a giggle. "What is wrong with this bat?"

"It's not the bat," Sesshoumaru said curtly, "it's you."

"No way. I'm doing it fine! It's the bat that's not doing its job."

The older of the two sighed tiredly. "OK, for the last time, Inuyasha, you don't hit the ball with your body twisted almost away from the base. And your left hand is not supporting the bat correctly. What is this?" he mocked the boy, limping the left hand like spaghetti, and Kagome burst out laughing. "People are going to laugh at you if you keep holding it the wrong way."

"Well, I want to hold it the way I want to." Inuyasha was put out, and Sesshoumaru threw down his glove angrily. "We've been at this for three days now, and if you can't adjust your hold, then you're not going to make it on the team or anywhere. Meanwhile, I'm not going to waste my time for a kid who won't take advice from a college baseball player- I'm going home." He began jogging the other way.

"I don't need you- you just keep yelling at me," Inuyasha called to his retreating back. Then- "Stupid brother."

Kagome sat there for twenty minutes now, and she thought- no, knew- it was her turn to play baseball; gaily, she ran towards the batter's box with the duffel bag thumping by her side when Inuyasha stepped in front of her, towering over her small, skinny form. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Playing ball," she replied before setting the bag down. "I brought my stuff here-"

"You can't play," he interrupted, and when Kagome asked for the reason, it was because "she was a girl." Her mouth dropped open; this was the second time today that someone outright told her she couldn't play baseball because she was female! "Well, for your information, Mr. Spaghetti Pants, I'm going to play whatever I want, whenever I want!"

He was irritated and kicked her equipment to the side. Ignoring her protests, he ground out, "You're a girl, and girls play with jump ropes or dolls or look at boys like me funnily. Besides, I don't think you can win against anyone in this game. You're too small." He looked at her critically, and she felt the need to bash him in the head with his own bat.

"I don't like jump ropes or dolls, and I would never want to look at you weirdly in a million years. That's just disgusting," she wrinkled her nose in extreme distaste. "And also, I can too win; I was on a team in Tokyo, and we won most of our games… which is more than can be said about your team." She knowingly pushed a big button, and Inuyasha looked ready to pounce.

"All right, if you're so good at baseball, why don't _you_," he shoved the bat roughly against her chest, "swing?"

"Fine, I will," Kagome replied cheekily. " And I'll do a home run, too."

He laughed, but it wasn't funny. "Nice to know you have dreams."

She stomped her feet indignantly, and suddenly an idea came to her. A smile like a Cheshire cat graced her face, and she found herself saying, "If I do get a home run, you have to share the field." It was a big move, putting the worth of a baseball field within one turn, but she knew how far her talents expanded.

Inuyasha contemplated this for about two seconds before nodding confidently. "Fine, but let me warn you that my fastball is very, very-"

"Fast, I know." She rolled her eyes. And he thought _she_ was stupid. Placing her body perpendicular to the home base, she gripped the smooth club between her hands. _Maybe twenty-five feet away. Good arm… he tends to shift towards the right before throwing. Left-handed, I see. He's not looking at the batter; he's looking at the cage behind me. And he's winding up, and he's throwing, and-_

The crack of aluminum meeting with the baseball's cowhide was satisfactory, and both kids watched, one elated and one surprised, as the ball soared through the air for a few seconds before dipping down and plopping onto the grass… outside of the fence. "Aw, yeah!" she whooped in the air and began strolling around the field. "Hm, what does that mean? That I get to use the baseball field whenever I want!" She had reached second base and was midway for a third one. It may have been a bit too much, but the kid had been rude to her one too many times, and she felt he deserved this big piece of revenge.

Her celebration was cut short when something slammed painfully against her side, and she fell to the ground with stars in her eyes. Kagome swung blindly with a fist and connected with a smooth surface; when that thing yelped painfully, she knew it wasn't a something- it was a someone. "Get off me! Get off me! Get off-"

"How did you do it?" Inuyasha had pinned both hands to either side of her head, and he was glaring at her. The blood on his mouth was running, but it wasn't important at the moment. "How did you hit the ball like that?"

"Like I would tell you!" Kagome bit back, bucking wildly. He was right about something- she was too skinny, and against a toned male at her age, it was hard to get him off her stomach.

"Ha! I knew it! You cheated!" Inuyasha crowed in delight, and she hissed furiously. "I did not cheat- you're just a sore loser!" She stopped kicking, and seeing that she was out of breath, he released his grip.

"Hey, if you won't tell me how you did that, then that means- Jeezus shit!" Kagome had tricked him, that stupid girl! She had pretended to be out of energy when she was just brimming with it and, in his weak moment, had pushed the boy to the ground. She stood up, ragged but defiant. "That was so unfair, stopping me before I reach home base! It's not wrestling!"

"Whatever it takes to stop a girl from playing."

"You're just angry because you can't hit like I can!" she taunted, and Inuyasha tackled her to the dirt again. Kagome gave another blow to his cheeks, and she was rewarded with a punch of his own. "Ow!"

The two rolled around, trying to get an advantage over the other. He punched her face, she punched his stomach; he scratched her cheeks, she scratched his eyes; he pinched her arm, she pinched his leg; he kicked her shin, she kicked between his thighs; he pulled her hair, she pulled his hair; he choked her, she choked him. It was so maddening how this puny girl could rival him in strength, and when he kicked sand into her eyes, she did likewise. It was pain, and Inuyasha rolled away. "You sonofabitch!" he yelled angrily. "I am not sharing my field with a stupid girl!"

Kagome was kneeling on the ground, trying to rub the sand out of her eyes, and she retaliated with a, "I don't care- I'll make you share the field if it's the last thing I do!"

There was no reply, and she wondered if he had quieted and realized the errors of his ways. Maybe he was waiting for her to finish rubbing her eyes so he could apologize. When she could see clearly, she looked up to find that Inuyasha was actually stumbling twenty feet away, trying to get home and see at the same time. Her mouth was stinging from all the bile and blood, and Kagome rose to her feet. "You sissy! I'll take you on tomorrow again if I have to!"

The response was obscene, and she huffed angrily. "Wait until I tell Mom about him," she muttered before turning around to retrieve her bag. Whatever it was, Kagome _would_ get Inuyasha to share the field, if it was the last thing on earth.

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	4. Chapter Three: First Base

**Fastball**

**A/N**: I can just tell I'm going to re-edit this story when I finish the entire thing. You know, make the entire thing smoother with less grammatical mistakes? I hate transition. It sucks to have weak transitioning because that's one of the basic elements to a good story.

**Disclaimer**: I'm a follower, not a leader.

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Chapter Three: First Base

Nghi

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It was only four o'clock- two hours since the dramatic runaway- when Kagome found her new house, and her mother was at the front door, glaring at her. She had been smart enough to observe her surroundings while running away that it took her another good hour to retrace her footsteps and hike up the steep hill.

"Where have you been, young lady?" Mother asked; she inhaled sharply when her daughter stopped two feet away, and every scratch and stain was visible within her naked eye. "What have you been doing!"

Kagome felt tempted to reply smartly with a "None of your business", but she knew Mother was fearless when it came to disciplining her children; it wouldn't take much thought for her to take two strides across the lawn and smack her. "I was just taking a walk," she said dully, scratching her jaw.

"Well, it must have been a big walk for you to look like this," Mother answered, and then she suddenly stood up with her hands firmly planted by her sides. "You've been playing baseball again, haven't you? How many times has this been, me telling you-"

"I didn't," Kagome snapped, and Ayumi looked surprised. Her cool attitude faltered, and she began to fumble, trying to explain before the woman could fume. "What I mean is that I was going to, but there were already people at the field, and they were using it, and I was watching, and they got into a fight, and one person left the other, so I thought I would join, but the boy didn't let me, so I played him for the field, and I won, and he was a sore loser, and he tackled me, and then we got into a fight."

Ayumi didn't hear all of the words, but she picked out three main ideas: baseball, fight, and boy. "A boy, you said?"

"Yes, Mom, a boy." Finally, something the two could talk about without bickering. Kagome smiled cheerfully. "It was a boy with a nasty temper, too."

"Really. And he picked a fight with you because he lost?" Mother was leading Kagome into the bathroom where the first aid kit was. "That's no way to behave around a girl."

Kagome didn't really think gender mattered, but that was going to take another day and a half if she even thought about bringing _that_ up. "Well, I think he shouldn't have been stupid in the first place. It's his fault that I came home with these cuts."

"Boys are just a little more sensitive about their pride than girls. They can't stand losing at this age," Mother said. Then she added thoughtfully, "They can't stand losing at any age, either, now that you think about it. Heh. I remember this one time when I beat Taro at a swimming race by a whole half a minute, and the poor man wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the month."

"Who's Taro?" Kagome asked. Or she would have had the doorbell not rung. Mother finished applying the ointment onto her knee scrapes and gave her the leftover bandages. "Patch those up and meet me outside; I'm going to greet our neighbors." It was a mystery how her mom could always tell who was waiting.

Kagome heard voices and irritating laughter- she loved giggling, but there wasn't a lot of enjoyment in smiling just for the sake of formal salutations. In her opinion, if it wasn't funny, then it wasn't worth a laugh. It puzzled her so much that Mother could possess such a quality in an otherwise flawless personality: the ability to bend and twist to conform to today's society… or, in other words, the ability to butt-kiss very well. Grandpa was old and grumpy half the time, so he didn't really give much thought towards first impressions, and Souta was just a drooling three year old. That left Mother to be the face of the family, and she was expecting her daughter to do the same. _It's back to laughing at the stupid jokes_, she thought unhappily before hopping off the counter.

"-And so here we are, ready to start a new life!" Ayumi was finishing up a story when she reached the doorway. "Oh, and here she is, my lovely daughter Kagome!" Ayumi was positively crooning and buttery, and it made her slightly ill.

"Hello, Kagome. My name is Kaoru Furiko," the woman greeted. Kagome barely had any time to return the welcome when Kaoru turned to Mother, slightly apologetic. "I'm so sorry my husband could not be here to say hi to such a warm family. He has been very busy lately, with late-night meetings and calls from work. And my older son is not here, either. Pity I did not welcome you guys earlier; he just left for late-night school a half-hour ago."

"Oh, that's OK. We'll meet them some other time," Ayumi replied smoothly; it was a 'never' in the Book of Stiff Salutations (Or BOSS for short) to criticize anyone about their lack of enthusiasm.

The two began to chat solely, and Kagome felt she was being pushed out of another conversation…. This was her break and, still smiling forcefully, began to edge for the entrance. Then- "Oh, and did I mention I have a son around your daughter's age, too?" Kagome groaned inwardly; she should have gone at a pace faster than a snail crawl!

"Oh, really?" The amount of shock Ayumi inserted into the interjection was so phony she cleared her throat, lied about some dry throat condition, and tried again with less surprise. "I didn't know. Did you hear that, Kagome? You might have someone your age to play with! Isn't that great." She didn't sound too excited there….

When Mother nudged Kagome indiscreetly, the girl nodded quickly. "Oh, yes, I'm so happy." Robotic and neutral- just the way she felt about this. But out of curiosity, she added, "Who is your son, by the way?" And Mother nodded along, also curious.

Kaoru giggled nervously. "Oh, he's not feeling too well today. You know boys at this age- temper temper, and not like us mature girls." She winked and giggled pretentiously, and Kagome laughed very weakly. "But yes. He had a bit of a… scuffle, and he's not feeling social at all."

Mother opened her mouth to say something saccharine for sure when the honey oak door behind Kaoru opened with a bang, and a boy stomped out. "Mom, Sesshoumaru left his stupid socks in my room again!" he complained, waving a pair of socks in the air.

The woman's smile fell a little bit, but it was back up in a quick moment, and she called rather pleasantly at the boy, "Come here, Inuyasha. I'm just welcoming our neighbors."

"Not now," he yawned, scratching his elbow. "My legs are killing me, and buy some more bandages 'cuz we're out."

"Inuyasha, _please_ come here and say a little hello. It wouldn't kill you now, would it?" The smile was permanently etched across the face, but Kaoru's eyes threw daggers. He opened his mouth, ready to decline the offer so graciously when she cut in. "Worry about the socks later, and I'll remember to buy the bandages that you like. Now come here- no, put the socks down first."

For Kagome, she was too busy staring at the boy to notice any sudden different voice tones or mood tension in the air. How on earth could a stupid boy she met on a baseball field be her neighbor? How on earth could a stupid boy she only met for two hours possibly of all possibilities be her neighbor? How on earth could a boy so dumb, so straining to be around, and so rude be her neighbor? She watched, absolutely stunned, as the boy frowned, muttered something, and began to mooch his way over to his mother's side. "Hello," he mumbled unenthusiastically before turning around to find comfort within his dark cave. Kagome wished she could do the same.

Kaoru caught him by the shoulder and, turning him around once more, whispered into his ear menacingly, "Do it with sincerity." Inuyasha gave her a sideways glare before smiling widely. "Welcome to-" The words died in his throat when he caught Kagome's eye and realized he was not more than one foot away from her, and she wondered how long it took him to notice. _About time_, she thought. This time, it was Mrs. Furiko who nudged the boy, and he exclaimed, "You again!"

Realization sunk in, and then he said, "_You_ again!"

"Her again?" Mrs. Furiko asked, and Ayumi followed suit with, "My daughter again?" There was no time to say more than a parrot's imitation, because Inuyasha lunged for Kagome. "Idiot girl! Once I get my hands on you, I'm going to kick your sorry little-"

"Inuyasha!" Kaoru was busy restraining her son by his shoulders, and he was shoving and kicking and looking positively murderous and ready to kill. Kagome thought the two didn't look alike at all; they just had really bad tempers.

But she couldn't really say anything much more without venturing into hypocritical, because Ayumi was also busy restraining the girl. "Just because you're bitter doesn't mean you have to act so senile, you sonofa-" Kagome yelled, and she was also shoving and kicking and looking positively murderous, too.

"Kagome!" Ayumi cut her off, but she wasn't listening; she had better things to do, like choke the living daylights out of the useless mass in front of her!

Apparently, Mrs. Furiko was tired and had a less expendable temper because she suddenly roared, "Enough!" It was a tone that warned of threats and future pain to come, and the woman was glad she went into stock business and not flower arranging. But either way, _that_ was enough to get both kids to stop lunging. "What is going on, and how do you two know each other?" She was still holding Inuyasha by the collar, and she was waiting for an explanation. "And it better be _good_."

He gave her one more dirty glare before facing his mother. Kagome watched as he pointed a sticky, little finger at her and opened his yap. "She's the one who punched me!"

-


	5. Chapter Four: First Base

**Fastball**

**A/N**: Has anyone ever played The Sims or The Sims 2? It's addicting stuff, man…. Especially when you're trying to get the roof just right; you can spend hours trying to pick and match colors alone, and then when you try to get a professional-looking roof… wow. I mean, I can easily spend five hours manually building roofs.

**Disclaimer**: Copyright statements are for people who are afraid to send hitmen after plagiarizers.

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Chapter Four: First Base

Nghi

* * *

The thin wall separating his parents' bedroom was not helpful at all. He grumbled again for good measure and tried to block out the irritating moans and groans. It was disgusting for an eleven year old to even think, so much as hear, about his parents engaging in sexual activity. While Inuyasha had not taken FLE yet (Future Life Education would be available next year for seventh graders.), he did acquire certain knowledge about the world of procreation, and it was not pleasant.

A particularly loud moan reverberated into his room, and the lingering tintinnabulation made him want to throw up; instead, he rolled his eyes and shifted onto his other side. First the stupid girl shows him up at baseball, then he comes home to find his stupid older brother's socks littered across his bedroom floor, then his mom calls him out to greet the neighbors, then he finds out the said stupid girl _was_ his neighbor, and when he tried to explain what happened, Kaoru had forced him apologize to the girl. And if that wasn't enough punishment, she had boxed his ears once they were safely behind closed doors and scolded him for even considering physical assault on the opposite gender. _It wasn't like she looked like a girl_, he thought grouchily; his ears were still sore from that particular cuff.

But still… he burrowed a bit deeper underneath the cover, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. She was a strange girl, and Inuyasha could vouch for that. He had never seen a girl so enamored with baseball. And he most certainly had never met a girl who had a better batting technique than he did. Sure he was rusty on the curveballs, but he, Inuyasha, had mastered the technique of fastballs. All their fastballs he could hit, and all of his fastballs they couldn't.

So how was she able to hit it?

It puzzled him so, and he rolled around in his bed, trying to think of how she could pull off such a stunt and all the while trying to ignore his parents' muffled voices. God, it was annoying…. (How long has it been since he first begged for Sesshoumaru's room? It was ten feet away from the God-awful master bedroom….)

The tragic thing about Inuyasha was that he possessed two very irritable qualities that both parents denied coming from either of them- his inability to swallow his arrogance, and his inability to swallow his mouth. At first he thought she was cheating because there was no way a puny girl like her could score such a hit when even thirteen year olds had difficulty hitting. But he had given her his bat, his own bat from his hands, and he knew that aluminum and cowhide weren't magnetic at all. There was no way in hell he would even think about cheating, and if the two were using _his_ tools of the trade, there was no way she could have managed to hook some magnet-radar device without him seeing it. And not to mention he was looking behind her the entire time; he would have seen anything devious going on.

The supposed scandal just wasn't connecting in poor Inuyasha's head, and he decided that if it didn't add up, then it didn't add up. That meant the girl- he was sick of calling her the girl and decided to call her Lulu because that was his least favorite American name. Lulu, he decided satisfactorily, and it mitigated a little of his touchiness. So it meant a possible fluke. Inuyasha contemplated this thought- he never believed in a thing called 'luck', but he did hear Sesshoumaru talk about 'first luck' one time. It was too long ago, but he dimly remembered his older brother criticizing one of the baseball cards and going on and on about a one-time deal. _That's probably it_, he thought decidedly. She was just lucky; maybe it was a gust of the wind that blew the ball a little off course, so naturally she would hit it; normally, no one would have been able to hit it.

But if it was just a fluke, how come Kaoru had announced earlier that today would be hot, cicada-calling, and- most importantly- _still_? How come Kaoru had replied that 'still' meant no wind, and how come he remembered whooping that morning about no natural interference to ruin his practice pitches?

Inuyasha's stomach dropped down to his knees. No, the fluke was out of the question; nature left him alone today, and his bat and ball were perfect before and after he inspected them. Nothing was ruined, and nothing was tagged or wired. That could only mean… that… Lulu maybe… possibly… perhaps… couldn't be too sure… indefinitely… has talent _surpassing_ him.

"No way," he whispered, closing his eyes tightly. It was unbelievable. Incredulous. Implausible. Unthinkable. Improbable. Far-fetched. But it was true, and he moaned again before turning onto his stomach and burying his shameful head into the cotton pillow. Then he heard his parents simulating the moans, and he covered his poor, virgin ears.

After all this time, all this practicing since he was a barely legal five years old, all the running, all the throwing, all the pitching, all the batting, all the effort he put into the game to be the best of his town, some stupid Lulu punk moves in one day and ruins everything. It was 11:30, and Inuyasha's head began to hurt from too much overanalyzing; maybe it was just a bad dream, and he would wake up tomorrow to find that his _real_ neighbors were some portly, old farts looking for a no-nothing town. He would wake up to find that the Lulu he had met in the baseball field was really a dog who attacked him and not a girl who could rival him in the baseball industry. Oh God, it was so mortifying….

But sleep wasn't coming to him any time soon, and the prick in his arm every time he pinched it only proved that his neighbor really _was_ Lulu. Inuyasha read the clock again: a blinking midnight, and not a wink yet. Sighing, he flipped the blankets to the side and, laying there for a moment, counted evenly between each breath. The bed creaked as his weight shifted, and he was already relaxing when his bare feet touched the cool hardwood. It was a strange habit Inuyasha developed, but he felt a sense of comfort walking in small circles around his room, and sleep always came more easily. Kaoru told him he developed it around three, but he was too into _carpe diem_ to remember past yesterday.

It was almost floating in Cloud Nine, and he almost felt tired enough to fall back onto his cotton cloud, curl up, and doze like a baby when his wandering eyes caught the level window across the rose garden. It was like cold water, and Inuyasha suppressed a heartfelt yell. Even in an unknown state of mind, Lulu managed to disrupt something so innocent and sweet… again! Everything was her fault, always, always, always her fault, that idiot girl.

Even though he was put out from lack of sleep and energy, he stood there, half-hidden in the dark and behind the wooden dresser, watching Lulu from across. She was sitting in a chair, and her mom was gently trying to reapply a new gauze bandage to Lulu's face. And he used the term trying because she was twitching and moving and squiggling around like a little worm. There was one more pang, but it was small, insignificant. Inuyasha had grown used to sentimentality, and he was more or less affected by daily public display.

He continued watching for a few more minutes, unconsciously observing Mrs.'s different expressions and reactions to her troublesome daughter, and then he unconsciously moved from the older lady to the rambunctious girl, all fiery and set in motion. He recognized some of her stances because it was from baseball, and judging from how she was gesticulating wildly and pulling at Mrs.'s arm, Inuyasha thought she was trying to get Mrs. to copy a few stance. It was warm and cozy and so well-knit- did they even know what time it was? He half-heartedly wished his own parents never knew what time it was.

But in the end, it was illogical and peculiar to be so animated at such a moment. Inuyasha amused himself with the thought of his neighbors being actual vampire-bats. Casting one more look at the silent laughter, he finally strayed from the window and back to the center of the room. Maybe they were preparing for victims at one o'clock; such a late time was dangerous, he mused in his walking merry-go-round. Even he had never stayed up that late before! They're probably-

That was it! Inuyasha stopped mid-step, and a sly smile crept into his face. Stupid Lulu must be a really big baseball fanatic if she was trying to teach Mrs.- from how the two interacted that afternoon, the two must really have similar interests, and if all of his mother's lectures taught him, she must loathe baseball, too. Yet the girl was still trying to pursue the goal of planting interest into her mother's brain, and some of those stances looked awfully familiar from the baseball field….

Inuyasha switched to a back and forth pace, and he tried to keep his head down just the way Father did. If he somehow gained a close relationship to her similar to the one she had with her mother, then maybe… most likely, they could go to baseball fields together and practice together peacefully! And that meant they could give hints to each other- no, _she_ would give hints to him! (He would keep his secrets to himself to save time and trouble.) Finally, after he finished milking her for her ability's worth, he could- Inuyasha gave a small, excited yip- go back to being the best of Osaka and reach professional!

It was such a good plan, oh yes it was, and he gave a small pat on the back for such an ingenious idea. There was one problem left, and it hung in the air for several seconds: what kind of relationship? It would have to be good, because the two went along as well as water and oil. But Inuyasha was sleepy, and he had enough brilliance for one day. _Girlfriend and boyfriend sounds good, because I sure ain't playing the mother pants in this relationship_, he thought before yawning.

Inuyasha climbed into his blue cotton sheets and pulled up his blanket; if he had known that thinking would cause an opposite effect of a stimulant (namely the coffee his father drinks), he would have thought a lot harder in school by now….

The last thought he had before he lost consciousness was how awesomely ingenious the plan was.

-


	6. Chapter Five: First Base

**Fastball**

**A/N**: York Bites taste like toothpaste- a little is good for the breath, but too much can kill you. Meanwhile, coconut chocolate is so awesome. Yum.

**Disclaimer**: Watashi wa Inuyasha o 'own'shinai.

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Chapter Five: First Base

Nghi

* * *

In the morning Inuyasha ran down the stairs and raced out the doors with so much as a huffed 'goodbye'. Kaoru was perplexed by his rushed behavior; her little boy was 'smooth' and never rushed in any particular direction. (She acknowledged that trait from hanging around Inutaisho too long.) This was the first in a many long years that he seemed so eager to do _something_… almost like he was motivated. The mothering goals kicked in, and she was immediately filled with hope that her little boy was finally kicking off into the right direction. "Where are you going?" she asked to his fast retreating back; he was wearing his lucky number four shirt today.

He was already trampling through the tall, uncut grass in the backyard by the time she had bustled onto the porch; Kaoru would have to talk about Inutaisho and his slacking house chores. Without a backward glance he answered, "To the baseball field!"

"Without breakfast?" she waved a plate in the air, but Inuyasha was too far to see what was on the dang thing. "I made eggs and sushi!"

"God, Mom, it's eggs and bacon, not eggs and sushi," he grumbled. Then in a slightly louder voice- "No, thanks! I have to do something really important today!" Inuyasha quickened his pace to further the distance; he didn't want a good day ruined.

It wasn't as if he detested Kaoru; she was a nice enough, doting person, but it was somewhat artificial, like something out of a fifties' television show. And not to mention she was flighty and moody, too. One day she would feel like being a good mother and make breakfast like today and do laundry for a bemused Inuyasha. But he had grown used to her random fits of trying to _appear_ as a good mom; he remembered the first time she changed moods, going from sunny to downright nasty, and he knew not to put too much faith in her stability. She changed like a chameleon to its surroundings, and Inuyasha wouldn't be surprised if he came home to find her ranting at something he managed to do in his oblivious state. (He hoped he made his bed this morning; it went by too quickly to tell.)

Thank God a baseball field was nearby; otherwise, the nearest one was five miles down south, and he would have had to wake up at dawn to hitch a ride with Father, and although Inuyasha was on slightly better terms with good, ol' Dad, it wasn't saying a lot. So a baseball diamond within a vicinity of five minutes was golden, almost like God decided to give him this one peaceful haven in life.

Today he reached it in three minutes, and Inuyasha threw down his bat and glove mitt, panting a little bit. It was only ten in the morning, and he wasn't sure if she was awake; any doubt he had about manipulating a girl's feelings to gain an advantage was erased when he had woke up- he gave himself another pat on the back for such an outstanding and logical plan at 12:30 in the morning. (Although the girlfriend/boyfriend part made him slightly ill- he didn't know if he was ready to make such a big commitment at a tender age of eleven yet….)

According to his strategy, once she arrived, he would have to jump at the chance to ask her before any fists would follow; because Lulu was so unpredictable, Inuyasha had no idea how she would react: curse him forever, fall into his arms (he'd let her fall into gravity if that happened), or… something else. But whatever he got, be it extreme or not, he was going to pursue this over and over until he got what he wanted. Of course Inuyasha thought some more about which type of relationship he wanted to establish with Lulu, but none of them worked as well as this 'ship's interaction. (Mother/daughter? There was no way she would play up to that.)

Soon afterwards, they would start 'going out' and do everyday things, like simple talking; Inuyasha had seen Inutaisho and Kaoru try this many times, and it was too easy. ("Hello." "Hello." "Good work?" "Yes." "Got to make dinner." "OK.") On good days, they could even skip that and go straight to the baseball practice. He was smiling, just imagining how awesome he would be two months from now, and it would feel so good to get a home run….

A sharp rustle jarred him out of his daydream, and he turned around to find Lulu standing behind him. She was still covered in a bit of bandages, and Inuyasha thought she looked funny. Then again, he was a little mummified himself. He stared at her, and she did likewise for a moment before dropping her gaze and shuffling for the home run platter. Inuyasha was irritated; he was giving her one of his rare, happy looks, for God's sake, and all Lulu could do was ignore him like a petty mosquito!

But he knew she was like that from the beginning, when she had taken a nasty tumble down the hill; she had just sat there and 'huh?' like the moron she was, so he was disappointed in expecting anything more. Well, he supposed, it was time to kick the plan into action and take it up a knob. Or knock. Or notch. Whatever. "What are you doing here?" Inuyasha blurted out, and he inwardly smacked himself; how did that Spanish show go again…?

"The same reason you're here for," Lulu said, and then she added, "Playing baseball, practicing my swings, and you know… gaining muscle." Today was going to be a good day, Inuyasha thought forcefully- it was plain that Lulu felt some resentment towards his behavior, and he couldn't blame her; he felt twice the despise she felt for him. Wait… how much was scorn times two? Was it even possible?

He shook his head, trying to clear the schizophrenic thoughts; when had he become so nervous? When had his hand begun sweating? When had he begun noticing how hot it suddenly was? _Stop it!_ He shook his head again and pressed on. "Cool."

Lulu looked at him suspiciously, and Inuyasha knew he was failing his grade-A plan. Fast. What the hell…? This was a new experience, feeling flustered, and when a boy was intimidated by something, he usually does what every, normal male does: barge forward tactlessly. "Listen, Lulu-"

"It's Kagome."

"Fine, whatever, Kagome." He barely acknowledged the icy tone. "Yesterday, you batted really… really… really…"

"Really what?" the girl demanded, putting her hands to her hips, and he swallowed everything worth playing for to keep going; it would benefit later, Inuyasha was sure of it. Too bad Kagome was the type to jump to conclusions. "Really bad? Really horrible?" If possible, her tone became downright nastier. "You think that teasing me will make me play worse than before? Well, me playing at my worst is you at your best, so don't go-"

"Well." Inuyasha's hand was turning purple from the tight grip in his fist; was it really worth the better playing to put up with a yakking, paranoid bitch all the time? But it worked; Kagome was quiet and staring at him- it really was confusing to have a boy punch you one day and compliment you the next. "I said you played really well yesterday, and I'm sorry for pinning you to the ground like that," he repeated slowly.

-

Kagome blinked slowly; did he- was it- her ear-? No way, was her first thought. There was absolutely no way in the seven Hells this sonofabrat was apologizing to her, and after she gave him a good kick in the rear, too! The situation was odd, and as she quickly recounted all the times boys picked fights with her, it was not so shocking to find that not one of them had come back to meet and apologize to her… except this one. She assumed it would only be entertainment to take full advantage and reduce him to his knees and have him bow at her feet, and it would be simply humiliating to watch and yet so satisfying.

The problem was that she was not cruel intentionally or unintentionally, and she cursed her ability to forgive and forget so easily; the morals invested in her was a nagger against hurtful actions, and they were all dancing around her head, telling her to accept the compliment-apology duo; it would probably all she could get out of him at all, anyways, so why not take it for its worth?

She realized he was still staring at her from underneath his blue cap, and it was more than a slight discomfort; if it was all a joke, he was very believable with just the right amount of sincerity put into the statement. When his eyebrows furrowed confusedly from the awkward silence, Kagome realized she was still gaping like a monkey. "Oh, um…" she was speechless, to say the least. "Thank you. I don't think I want to play baseball right now, so I'll just go home…" She intended to walk slowly with her head down to discourage him trying a second conversation (Mortifying!), but it became more of a nervous scamper. What was he up to? And more importantly, why was she such a fantastic shade of red?

"Wait!" Inuyasha sounded frantic, but Kagome kept walking. All she had to do was grab her duffel bag and start for the hill (Silly her- she found a path that could have easily taken off forty-five minutes the other day in her trek.), and it was safe….

What she underestimated was his speed; he caught her arm, and she froze like deer in headlight. What to do, what to do, what to do! She had never been in a situation before, where a boy was _holding _her this way, _talking_ to her this way, _looking_ at her this way… it was enough to drive someone crazy, dammit! His mouth opened and closed like a silent fish, and all Kagome heard was the blood rushing to her head. "E-excuse me?" Her stomach was beginning to churn uneasily; it had been like that since this morning, and she had no idea why Mother was so upset about a small stomach flu at seven A.M. It was nothing a little Tylenol hadn't been able to cure at the time, but Kagome wished she had stayed in bed like Mother ordered before leaving for the grocery store.

Inuyasha looked irritated and shook her arm faintly, which calmed her senses a little, but he opened his mouth to start again, and nausea overwhelmed a good part of her; once again, Kagome missed what he was saying, but she didn't really care at the moment. She had little time to burble something like, "I think I'm going to be sick", but she wasn't really sure. The pain intensified blindingly in her left side, and she remembered thinking that her stomach couldn't be _there_.

Then Kagome promptly passed out.

-

She looked different. Really different. Inuyasha jostled her, but her eyes were glazing faster, and he began to panic. Either she had a really demented way of conversing, or she was coming down with something bad. He figured it was the latter rather than the former… or the former rather than the latter… what the hell, he figured she was just a demented, little child and, at her feeble request, repeated the question. He was expecting a slap. He was expecting a shock. He was expecting happy joys. For crying out loud, he was even expecting cries of horror.

He was _not_ expecting her to fall into his arms after he asked her to chain herself by his side for the next two months (Or girlfriend; either way worked.). So when that happened, he stood there for a few moments, dumbfounded. Then

"Shit."

-


	7. Chapter Six: First Base

**Fastball**

**A/N:** I swear to you, I had this chapter written up _three_ weeks ago! Cox Internet broke down (!), and I was stranded with no Internet for two weeks. Then it turns out that only the laptops can receive Internet call, and the horrible thing is that I can only save on a CD, so I had no way to figuring out what to do, and just three minutes ago I found out you had to format it. Argh. In other news, _Ascension_ is almost 7,000 words- it was supposed to end at 3,000 (3,500max.), but I don't know what happened... I guess the 'epic' in me had to make this long and twisted and... yeah. Shutting up now.

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**Chapter Six: First Base**

_Nghi_

* * *

As it turns out, Kagome hadn't fainted for no good reason; her left kidney had, in fact, more or less exploded into smithereens. Of course no human mortal can withstand an internal organ detonating _and_ simultaneously stand upright like a pole, and the entire anatomical mess left the poor girl helplessly unconscious in Inuyasha's arms. 

At that time, he remembered enjoying it, but not in the way the reader might have construed it. No, he didn't enjoy it- he _appreciated_ what would be his last moment of sanity, when everything was all right, things were like the day before yesterday, and the yakking bubblehead wasn't talking at the speed of light. Then he had realized that she was still passed out, and after shaking her like a poor rag doll, Inuyasha began to dimly, vaguely, slightly, just a bit, a little, insignificantly… worry.

"Ah, crap." He was supposed to say it the way it was supposed to be said: calm, cool, collected, and most importantly, devoid of any emotion, like the situation was not scaring the extreme shit out of an eleven year old boy who hadn't bothered to pay attention in CPR class last year and was now burdened with another person's life. (He remembered kissing and stopped listening after that.)

Luckily, Kagome was about as heavy as air, and, slinging her across his shoulder, he made in the direction of his house. He hoped she wasn't going to die, because it would be a really bad rain cloud across his conscience for the rest of his life. (Not to mention that he will know _forever_ that he touched a dead corpse for about five minutes.)

He was always a fast runner and, in no time, had reached his house. There was Mrs. Higurashi on the front porch, and she was gesticulating wildly with her frizzed hair bouncing crazily everywhere. There was also an ambulance parked in her driveway, and Inuyasha had a very good feeling it was for Lulu- er, Kagome. As he got closer, he noticed Kaoru frowned disapprovingly, and he wondered if a few you-know-what's had slipped out. (And the woman always said his potty mouth came from Daddy.) Nevertheless, he continued for the house, and a few snippets of the conversation rang a little clearer as he neared.

"-Yasha does _not_ buzz around anyone like a— like a fly! Now, I know you are very upset that Kagome is missing-"

"Upset? _Upset_?" Ayumi repeated incredulously. "You think I am upset?"

"OK, you are a bit frazzled-"

"I am _beyond_ upset, and if Inuyasha does not bring back my daughter-"

Then it was Kaoru's turn to ask incredulously, "What makes you think my son has her at all?"

"He was buzzing all over her yesterday-"

"Inuyasha does _not_ buzz around anyone-"

And so on. It was a nasty, little cycle that would have nearly destroyed their unlikely friendship in later years if the paramedic hadn't noticed him jogging forward. (By now Kagome weighed like an elephant.) "This the 'Kagome' those two were fighting over there?" He jabbed behind him and didn't bother looking back; meanwhile, the two squawking chickens had stopped bickering when the paramedic spoke and were watching as Inuyasha nodded and all but thrust the girl into the man's arms. He was panting heavily and too tired to reply, and as he neared his house where the front porch was where the two glowing women were blocking where the doorway was opening to precious freedom, Inuyasha realized that Kaoru and Mrs. Higurashi did not care for his health or well being; he was going to get _shit_ and then some. He had half a mind to turn around and scamper back to the field to practice some more ball, but then he thought about the nice, cool bed and the ice in the freezer and the air conditioner, and then he thought, _Bring it on_.

And oh, did they bring it on. Grabbing him by his ear, he winced and struggled as Kaoru marched into the house and into the kitchen with Mrs. Higurashi at heel. Her pearl necklace and unkempt, brown hair were swinging in all directions, and as he passed the coffee pot on the island counter, Inuyasha realized with a sinking feeling that Kaoru had not had her coffee yet and was in a considerably ghastly mood. "Inuyasha Furiko." Her voice was rumbling like a volcano, and he began to tremble in his torn sneakers. Full names were never a good thing. "You tell me _why_ the hell you brought Mrs. Higurashi's daughter… _somewhere_ when Kagome had been specifically ordered to stay home?" She gave a harder yank, and he grunted painfully. Looking over to Mrs. Higurashi, he mentally ESP-ed her to jump in any time and save his sorry ass from the afternoon's beating, but all she gave was a stony glare, and he knew he wasn't going to live to see tomorrow-

"Inuyasha, don't you dare tune me out now!" Kaoru released his ear, and as he gratefully moved away from her, she gave him a good slap on the upside of his head; he would be rubbing the sore spot for the rest of the day.

"Ma-" here he dodged good-naturedly from a grab for his ears. ("Don't you try to bullshit out of this with your 'Ma'ing!") "With respect I can honestly say I wasn't tuning you out; I have been listening to all of your lectures with an alert mind and taking-"

He stopped sugarcoating when her vein began to throb furiously and began to back away slowly instead. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Inuyasha knew that Mrs. Higurashi was probably advancing behind him, and he knew that when that minute came, he would also be sent to the hospital for a missing kidney.

So imagine his surprise when Mrs. Higurashi caught him by the shoulders gently (Not roughly!) and suggested sweetly to Mom, "Kaoru, I don't think this is the best tactic to question his motives." Motives? What motives? He was _not_ a friggin' common criminal! "Why don't we sit down with your cup of coffee and talk this out reasonably?"

Why, the woman was actually on his side! He felt very pleased and happy he would be breathing properly for a few more minutes. Along with Kagome going to be shutting up for some time now, having an adult who would actually listen to him was like icing on the cake: perfect. Since Mrs. Higurashi was already guiding him and his mother towards the table, there was nothing Kaoru could do except follow along; he made sure to sit farthest away from her and with the kind woman by his side… almost like lawyers in a case.

With the caffeine running through her systems, Inuyasha felt somewhat safe. At least Kaoru wouldn't be prone to random smacking anymore, and, keeping that in mind, he started for his defense. "See, the thing is, _I_ didn't drag her anywhere. I was going to the baseball field, just like what I told Mom here."

Kaoru concealed discreet smugness; there was definitely no way that her son would buzz around a girl; if anything, it should be the other way around. But that didn't mean she wasn't angry with him anymore; on the contrary, she was pissed off as hell he managed to drag her into this. "But I _did_ see Kagome at the field. She came there on her own, and now that I think about it, she _was_ having trouble climbing up the baseball mound…." It was true; even though Inuyasha was trying to prep for his plan (He didn't _lose_ nerve or anything silly like that.), he hadn't missed the way she was clutching at her lower stomach nervously.

Then something hard connected with the back of his head, and he winced and looked upwards to see Mrs. Higurashi standing up with tears in her eyes. "Then why didn't you say anything?" Face it- the woman really _was_ frazzled. "Why didn't you tell her to go home or get off the field? Why is it that every time a boy knows something is wrong with a girl, he leaves her alone?"

"What! But you guys told me to share the field with her! And you guys told me and her to mind our own businesses! And I thought she was having her-"

Another fwap to the head, and Inuyasha sat down again, rubbing and 'ow'ing really loudly. Mrs. Higurashi looked like she needed her own cup of coffee. "Don't give excuses- Kagome could have died! Isn't that enough to help people?"

Kaoru agreed vigorously; she had tear ducts the size of the bath tub, and in no time, an uncomfortable Inuyasha was squirming in his seat while the two women consoled each other with sympathetic words. For crying out loud, they didn't even know each other that long….

Then the sniffling gradually died down, and just when he thought he was off the hook for making him sit through twenty, torturous minutes of a sob fest, Kaoru pulled him to his feet. "Get your shoes- we're going to the hospital."

What!

-


	8. Chapter Seven: First Base

**A/N:** Shock! I've decided to write Fastball! What is the world coming to? In other news, I'm starting on a new story, but no worries- I won't be doing anything until I get all the planning done. And even then, I expect to finish a story. Yeah, THAT long, people.

Oh, and by the way, this story isn't done. It's just the end of _First Base_; Chapter 8 will be _Second Base_. I repeat: **This is not the end of the story**.

**Disclaimer:** My Inuyasha fanfiction is created solely for me to be able to sleep at night.

* * *

**Chapter 7: First Base**

_Nghi

* * *

_

To put it simply: it was a long ride.

_Really_ long, and unpleasant, to say the least. They had told him he was going to visit the troublemaker whether he wanted to or not, and naturally, he had refused; after all, his punishment of sitting between two, menopausing women with lack of willpower over tear ducts had been more than what he had bargained for. There was no need to inflict further pain upon his heavy soul by forcing him to see the girl! She had brought it on herself by deciding to run away to _his_ baseball field... again! (He refused to acknowledge the losing end of the bet.) Inuyasha had decided to save her, and what did he get? A cuff to the ear, and a pool of tears! Well, they could shove it, because he was in _no way_ getting into the damn minivan.

"Stop- fighting!" Kaoru huffed, gripping her son by his elbows. He gave another yelp and wriggled like a spastic, and his left knuckles knocked against her cheek painfully. "You are going to pay for that," she muttered darkly, still wrestling with him. For Inuyasha's part, he was still trying to free himself, so he ignored the blunt threat. It would be _so_ much easier if Kagome's mom wasn't _holding him by his feet_!

"Argh!" he roared in frustration, trying to kick the woman away. Just one leg- one leg! -, and he'd be in the field faster than a mouse caught on fire. "Leggo of me-!" Kick, kick, kick, kick- oh, look at that! He had managed to actually connect his sneakers with Ayumi's shin, and she somewhat doubled over, wincing slightly.

"You've- got a- nice son," she lied blatantly, trying not to drop the boy altogether and search for an icepack. Kaoru's hair was falling out of its usual pins, and she huffed and puffed as Inuyasha tried to bring his mother's hand down to his mouth. It was becoming desperate if he was resorting to biting. "For God's sakes, I thought we passed the teething stages," she said, using her left knee to knock the back of his head. He promptly gave up and yelped instead, momentarily distracted by the spinning, yellow stars.

Ayumi was resourceful and used this opportunity to finally accomplish what the two had been setting out to do for the past hour. "Quick, get him to the car!" she hissed, and Kaoru only needed to be told once before the pair were off, clamboring down the porch stairs, and actually halfway across the driveway. Then Inuyasha stopped seeing constellations and started recognizing where they were heading, and he began to kick and scream and punch and slap and bite and do _anything_ to get himself out of this one. "Let me go!" he screamed again. They say a man's pride was worth everything, but it was easily adjustable when you're only eleven.

And that included being manhandled by two women.

"I don't wanna see her!" Inuyasha began another tirade, and the two women rolled their eyes heavenwards. Why can't he just shut up for once? "I don't wanna see her fat, ugly, stupid-" In the time it took him to finish that sentence, Kaoru had managed to free a hand to open the backseat door before all but gladly throwing him in. He scrambled back up just as quickly, ready to spring headfirst out of the car when a clear window smacked in front of his face. "_I swear to God I will throw a table at her if I see her_!" Inuyasha yelled, his throat hoarse. He jiggled the door handle, desperately wishing it would fling open. He played with the lock/unlock button, but either way, it was like--

"I installed child lock two days ago," Kaoru said with a smirk as she climbed onto the driver's seat. Ayumi was right beside her, still breathing heavily. Yes, getting a child into a car was supposed to be a simple task... but this boy could make a run for her money. Inuyasha roared angrily and tried to open the door. "For crying out loud, I'm _eleven_, Mom" he snapped. "I think I would know the difference between a closed and open door!" Really, to insult him like that-!

The car engine rumbled to life, and he began to tug at the handle harder. There was no way she would get the satisfaction of _him_ publicly apologizing. Never was his motto! "Oh, it's not because I think you're stupid," she answered, checking her nails a little bit. Ayumi was still beside her, trying to even her breathing.

"Then why the hell did you install child lock?"

"So you won't jump out of the car." At this, the vehicle began backing up, and Kaoru turned on the radio. Loudly. The hospital was about an hour and a half the entire way, so there had to be something to drown out her son's vocal chords. She shook her head; he should try out for the men's choir some time.

Speaking of which, a moment later, as the van was completely backed out, there was a great amount of voiceless howling.

-

After arriving at the hospital and spending another good half hour jostling the poor boy again, the two women had managed to end up on the fifth floor and in room 37C. Ayumi quickly shut the door behind her once he was settled onto the floor, and she exhaled a huge sigh of relief. Thank God the hellish workout was done...

Meanwhile, Kaoru stood beside Inuyasha, a nice, warm smile spreading across her features. "Hello, Kagome."

"Mm... hi," the girl responded, her half-lidded eyes crinkling into a poor attempt of a grin. Inuyasha thought she smiled like a drug addict.

But of course, no one else could see that, and his mother, he was disgusted to say, continued to coo over her for a good five minutes before stopping; it was by far the most gag-inducing thing anyone in his family had ever done. "Inuyasha," Kaoru said suddenly, and he stiffened at the sound of his name. Dammit- he was hoping she would go on for at least another ten minutes!

"What?"

There it was- the traditional Kaoru glare. It had been perfected since he was a wee, little boy, and no matter how often she used it, the little glint in her eyes that promised _pain_ once they were inside the safe walls of his home scared the crap out of him. Inuyasha shrunk back a little bit; he didn't want to look like a weakling in front of a girl. (Contrary to popular belief, the ultimate blow in pride was being yelled at by your mother in front of a girl, _not_ throwing a tantrum and being manhandled by two women in front of public.)

"Don't you have something to say to her?" she asked, but this time the saccharine tone was forced, and he didn't like forced sweetness down his throat. It felt very fake and very dangerous, and he could safely bet the woman would open a can of whoop-ass on him tonight. Not that he was thinking of the term whoop-ass...

"Um... no?"

"Oh, I think you do." She was giving him no way out, watching for his next move: he either defied her and receive punishment later, or he obeyed her and accept a bruised ego. Both seemed unappealing and extremely humiliating (and not to mention painful), and Kaoru watched as Inuyasha shifted from foot to foot, looking both ways and that, scratching at a mosquito bite on his left arm, anything to delay the inevitable, and then she leaned forward in a predatory manner, waiting and watching as he finally opened his mouth--

and coughed politely.

Of all the...! Kaoru knew he had avoided the question, and she classified it as insubordination. Her right eye twitched once, and Inuyasha gulped as her fists clenched and her shoulders tensed way too much for a 38 year old. (But no one was supposed to know!) It was all over, and he watched his life flash rather quickly before his eyes- there was the action figure he had wanted yesterday, there was the baseball card he had gotten yesterday, there was the breakfast he had never managed to completely eat yesterday...

Then, of all people, Ayumi stepped in, privately intervening on his behalf. "It's all right," she said earnestly, contriving for an understanding tone. "Children are like this. We shouldn't pressure them into this kind of thing." Being a single parent was tough, and the best advice she could offer to newbies in that area was to buy a _lot_ of parenting books. Magazines, even.

Kaoru still looked aggravated at his exacerbating behavior, but regardless, she forced herself to relax her shoulders. "You're right," she replied after a few moments of deep breathing. "I think a little bit of coffee will do us both a favor." Ayumi nodded, apparently pleased that an advice from a book could work so well. "I'll go away for... five minutes. That's pretty appropriate, don't you think?" There was another nod, and she slung a casual arm over the woman's shoulder, beginning to lead her out of the room. Inuyasha watched, half-relieved at not having to sucker punch his ego in return of not being sucker punched that night (exaggeratedly, of course), and half-perturbed at his mom's new friend. They were getting along _too_ well, and he could smell a certain 'Danger Duo' coming up in future events.

"And when I come back, I think I'll be pretty happy to know that _my son has apologized_. Because you know, he _will do it within that time slot_. _All by himself_." Kaoru looked back once, her eyes pointed and sharp, before turning back to a gaping Ayumi. "Oh, don't look so slack-jawed. It does terrible things to your jaw..." The door closed, engulfing the two with complete, utter silence.

That was, until Kagome spoke up. "Your mom likes to glare, doesn't she," she stated. Drowsiness had flown out the window ever since she woke up half an hour ago, but the tiredness of it all was still harboring there, and she felt like a dormant vegetable.

Inuyasha snorted, giving her an deadpan look. "Oh, golly gee, what makes you say that?" he asked asked sarcastically before mooching over onto the sofa. "She probably practices it in the mirror all the time to make sure she doesn't lose the fear factor." God, what the hell was this thing made out of? He shifted uncomfortable, unable to slouch; it was like trying to sleep with a rock digging up your back.

"She's really scary," the girl murmured, turning her head away, and he didn't say anything except pick up an ancient-looking remote and flipping on an even more ancient-looking T.V. The hospital needed to invest in technology. Like, _now_. The next few minutes were peaceful as Kagome had managed to shut her trap; it was relaxing in a mind-numbing way, just channel surfing. He finally settled on some cartoon oldies when she opened her mouth again. "I think your mom wants you to apologize to me."

Of course, anything as golden as this was bound to be chased away by Stupid and her Troublesome Lips, and he growled softly. "Like hell I'm gonna do that." Inuyasha kept his eyes trained on the blurring screen, but he could see her head turning to look. Dang, he could _feel_ her stare, and it pretty much sent him breaking out into a cold sweat. He could do without that, thank you very much. "What?" Inuyasha demanded, breaking under the pressure and turning his own head to glare vehemently back. "Is there something on my face?" he pawed at his cheek in an exaggerating manner.

Kagome said nothing, but she had averted her gaze, much to his joy. He didn't feel bad- nope, not at all. This _was_ the girl who had managed to appear on his field out of nowhere and tried to show him up (He bristled slightly.), and then just after formally introducing themselves, she had decided the best way to get on his good side was to rupture a spleen. Of course, this inadvertently causes all the adults to point their finger at little, ol' him, accusing him of dragging her to _his_ field. As if it wasn't enough, there was the whole cherry on top, what with Ayumi and Kaoru practically swinging him along to her room. So no, he didn't feel bad that he wasn't giving her an apology. What for? He did absolutely nothing, so he was in no way to blame for this. And by logical conclusion, he did _not_ have to say sorry or feel bad if it wasn't his fault. And he didn't, either!

OK... maybe a little. Inuyasha heartily blamed his soft spot for his invalid of a grandmother. She was going to kick the bucket any day now, but that didn't mean he hated her. As he eyed Kagome out of the corner of his eye, the skinny, little girl on top of a big, white bed that was about as remotely comfortable as this couch, and with the IV needle jammed up her too thin arm, he felt his resolve melt until eventually, Inuyasha convinced himself that a small 'sorry' wouldn't be a big blow to his already battered pride. This was _the_ good deed for the year, and he silently prayed to God that it would earn him a sparing from Kaoru's fit later that night.

He took a deep breath, psyching himself mentally, and opened his mouth once more, ready to speak. Running a mile wasn't a big deal- he could do it. Two hours of swinging practice was easy. But trying to apologize was a different story altogether. "I-"

"I thought you would've been more manly about it," Kagome said lightly, still not looking at him, and instantly all thoughts of redeeming himself went flying out the windows. Inuyasha gaped at her, his mouth waiting to catch flies as he tried to process what she had just said. Did she- did he-?

It took a few moments, but the impact of the words finally hit him, and his comical expression of shock changed to indignant outrage. "Did you just _call_ me what I think you called me?" he asked... no, _demanded_, shutting off the T.V. and hopping onto the floor with an ominous glare.

She moved into a sitting position now, and he barely suppressed a twitch as she stuck her nose in the air and replied snootily, "If you mean I called you wussy about your feelings, then yes, you are _very_ unmanly."

"Take. That. Back," Inuyasha said through clenched teeth, and he was trying _very_ hard not to pounce on top of the girl and throw her out the window. The thick-headed, ugly cow... how dare she! The only restraint was the thought of being skinned alive tonight by Kaoru, and there was _no_ way a small exacerbation--

"No," Kagome answered just as forcefully, and she kept her gaze on him, her chin jutted out stubbornly. "It also doesn't help that you have long hair, either."

"I'm a _man_," he ground out, his feathers severely ruffled. "So therefore, I'm _manly_." Look at his biceps! Clearely not like some scrawny girl's! Look at his clothes! They certainly do not scream effeminate!

"Well, you look like a girl to me."

Inuyasha snapped. "_That is it_," he yelled, stomping towards the bed. "_I'm gonna make you eat_--" His fingers curled on the steel railing, and Kagome jerked back in alarm- oh no, he was going to strangle her to death! But instead of hopping onto the mattress and proceeding to cram a flower vase down her throat, the thought of an invalid- like his grandmother -not being able to defend himself (or herself, in this case) while he was being pounded into the ground came into sight, and an unfamiliar feeling rushed into his systems, smothering the previous aggression. In later years, Inuyasha would realize it was the feeling of sympathy and of his conscience at work, but right then, he felt... deflated.

The adrenaline wasn't egging him on anymore, and he gripped the railing tigher, absolutely furious that his body refused to kick Bubblehead in the skull. Just a little bit, he coaxed, a little pinch, and he'd be satisfied! It was no good, and he turned away with a livid snarl, kicking the bottom of the bed instead. Kagome watched, his back facing her; he hadn't hit her... She quickly ruled out that he was afraid to smack girls, because he had all but _tackled_ her to the ground last time. So what made it different this time?

Then it slowly dawned on her when he didn't snap back so quickly, and a small, triumphant grin made its way to her face. "Oh, you're afraid I'll beat you up again, aren't you?" Oh, who knew a broken organ could cause so much fun?

Inuyasha's fume was literally nonexistent, and the girl's horribly wrong assumption pushed him even more, if not over the edge already. "Don't get so big-headed," he replied arrogantly, looking over his shoulder disdainfully. "You're not worth my time, that's all."

It was her turn to leave her mouth wide open, looking madly incredulous, and she saw that it had the intended effect he wanted. "Oh, don't look like that. It does terrible things to your jaw," he mocked Kaoru before turning his head and mooching over to the sofa again.

But Kagome would be damned if _he_ had the last word. "I'll make it _worth_ your time," she hissed angrily, and without thinking, her hand lashed out and pushed the IV needle stand; the metal balanced precariously on its hind legs before toppling backwards.

And clashed with Inuyasha's head.

He couldn't do anything, other than the feel of sharp, cool metal connected to the top of his skull. Then it clattered beside him, but he was too busy clutching his head to notice; it was thrumming quite nicely, and then it decided to head on over to a full-time throb. A panicked, muffled voice was behind him, and he paid no attention other than the fact that some pretty-looking stars were waltzing and hovering in front of his eyes. His fingers were slick with something wet, and he pulled back his right hand dimly to see it was blood. And boy, was there a lot of it. The voice was beginning to gain definition, taking on the high octave of a girl, and it took a few moments for Inuyasha to realize it was Kagome.

As quickly as they had come, the stars were waving goodbye to him sadly before disappearing into the confines of the hospital room, and then her voice was clear and ringing now, the throbbing settling back into a nice, little ache so he could actually hear correctly instead of a rush of blood. "-God, don't die," he heard Kagome say frantically, "You're too thick-headed to die from _that_." Inuyasha glanced over to the pole, still holding his bleeding skull, and he made a connection. Bubblehead. His remark. Angry. Pole falling. A lot of pain.

Then he attacked, jumping onto the bed and trying to ram her against the wall. "You _cow_!" Inuyasha screamed violently, trying to pull her hair. For the most part, she was squealing and blocking his attempts rather well. "You are going to _wish_ you had _never_ met me!"

"I already prayed last night!" she spat right back at him, his temper beginning to rub off her. Surprisingly, this did not help the situation, as he changed focus and struggled to wrap his little fingers around her neck, where he would proceed to _squeeze_ as hard as he could. And meanwhile, her last words came back to him, and somewhere in the back of his head, Inuyasha was finally forced to recognize that maybe, _just maybe_, this girl might be a force to reckon with:

_"I'll make it worth your time!"_

-

**End First Base**


	9. Chapter Eight: Second Base

**A/N:** Finally! I couldn't _wait_ to write out Second Base. Heheh. Now I can finally get into Inuyasha's character a little more... cuz you know, children are really hard to write.

**Disclaimer:** I am not a fanfiction writer. I am the creator of Inuyasha. I am the one who started Viz. I am not a compulsive liar, either.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Second Base**

_Nghi

* * *

_

High school was an enigmatic subject in itself. It could be cruel, it could be mean, and most of all, it could ruin your life. Or the golden years, at least. Other times, it could be tolerable, like a euphoric wave riding high: good grades, good friends, good teachers- all of the above. Few people entered on that side- you either entered your golden ages with luck, or you didn't.

Kagome had good karma. In tenth grade she had entered with a bright, cheery face and a flouncing uniform skirt; her grades had peaked into the top ten for the first and last time, and she was positively brimming with happiness. After five years of living in Osaka with Inuyasha as a next-door neighbor, Mother had been pleased the two had been accepted into the same high school. On the morning of the first day of school, as Kagome was carefully eating her cereal, the older woman took a seat across from her, watching as she chewed her breakfast and scanned the back of the cardboard box simultaneously. If Kagome thought Mother was plotting something, she hadn't shown any sign of suspicion. Good- the girl never reacted well under planned innuendos.

It took a few minutes, but she had finally worked up the courage to open her mouth and ask softly, "You know... wouldn't it be nice if you and Kaoru's son walked to school together?" There was no point in beating around the bushes- the girl was by no means dim-witted, but she wasn't exactly the sharpest crayon in the box, as the cliche goes.

Kagome had spluttered and nearly spat out the milk, and Ayumi watched bemusedly as her daughter's coughings subsided. "Are you kidding me?" she had answered, already having 'disbelief' written across her forehead.

"No, I'm not," her mother answered sincerely.

"Forget it." she said sincerely, too. "That idiot can look out-"

"It's a new school year," Ayumi interrupted, looking into her daughter's eye. If she could just snag Kagome with the look Kaoru had taught her... "Look out for him, you know?"

It was working- the girl hesitated for a moment before crossing her arms. "He can look out for himself," she said, trying to remember their last fight. Oh yes, the idiot had tried to shove her head into the sand during one of their catty moments... (Of course, she had the grace to acknowledge that throwing the baseball bat in a vindictive manner towards the lower half of a boy's waist hadn't been a good idea.)

What had Kaoru told her to do... oh yes! Ayumi looked down, her eyes casting sideways just long enough for Kagome to see how much _pain_ and _hurt_ this was affecting her. (Always contrive to look victimized, Kaoru had taught her. It worked like a charm with Inuyasha all the time.) When she looked up again, Kagome looked like she was positively bending towards her will, and she silently cheered her friend for giving such fantabulous advice on manipulating kids. But there was still some hesitance, and she jumped at the chance to twist that around as well.

"Just a little bit, OK?" It had worked, and the girl more than readily accepted once those words had been uttered. Later that day, Ayumi had called Kaoru, set to ramble about her surefire techniques at getting children to behave unintentionally. The woman would definitely make a bestseller one of these days...

But right then, she watched gleefully as Kagome bounded down the stairs and shuffled up to where Inuyasha was standing as slowly as possible. They exchanged scathing looks for a moment before walking silently towards Furijima High, a more than respectable distance between them. Yes, the tension in the atmosphere was palpable, but you had to start somewhere, right?

Kagome had fit in quickly, easily befriending new girls and the boys that came along with it. But where was Inuyasha? She hadn't a clue, and neither did she care. The jerk had made her life a living hell for the rest of elementary and junior high school, and she'd rather have a pleasant experience during her later years of education than following around and mothering a sulking boy with an equally bad temper. Ayumi had said to look out for him, and she made sure to do that... just not between the times of eight to three.

All of her friends thought she had been dropped on her head when she was a baby when she expressed a less than favorable opinion of him; she had pointed to the skulking idiot near the outskirts of the school's territory, and they all squealed at how "cute and gorgeous" he was. The first time she had heard those words from Yuka's mouth, she had found it so ridiculously funny that she fell off her seat, her face a splotchy red. Cute and gorgeous? Violent and temperamental usually came to mind, more like it.

Her friends hadn't found it so amusing then, and they were slightly miffed at her reaction. He was the epitome of solitude and cool beauty- all of the things that every woman looked for in a man! Kagome had shaken her head sadly, and of course, Yuka had taken it as a challenge, jumping up before anyone could say anything and heading towards Inuyasha with the determination to prove Kagome wrong. She returned a few minutes later, huffing and puffing about how rude and crude he was; after a few days, thanks to the girl's infamous big mouth, the news had spread throughout the entire grade, and everyone began to avoid him by all means. To Kagome's dismay, she had felt a little twinge of sympathy towards his plight, but soon discovered after one lunch with him that it wasn't mutual; he actually _liked_ the solitude.

Despite this, they still ended up walking to school together and 'sharing' the baseball field over the course of the year, and she managed to keep tabs on his life; unremarkably, it wasn't much. When tenth grade had ended, Kagome had only two things to conclude about the boy: 1. his attitude in school should have been classified as clinically anti-social a long time ago, and 2. the only thing his little peanut head could comprehend was baseball. It was the only thing defining him, and he sure wasn't making a big case about disproving it.

That summer Kaoru had decided to drag her family to the Netherlands, where they could spend their 'well-deserved' vacation by observing Dutch paintings and milking cows for a learning experience. It was a good chance to try something new, like a taste of different cultures, she had said to a tearful Ayumi before getting into her minivan. Kagome had a choice of saying goodbye to him or staying in bed, and naturally, she chose the latter, as it would spare the both of them from seeing each other's faces. Because really, if _she_ was the one leaving, she wouldn't want her last view of Osaka to be _his _face. From what her mother had told her later during lunch, Inuyasha had looked like an anguished puppy in the hands of the devil as his father (Ayumi commented how 'nice' he looked for a 43 year old, by the way.) turned at the corner of the street; Kagome had giggled, but for another different reason- no more annoying neighbor on the field for two, whole months!

The day he had left, she went strolling at her own pace down to the lot, whistling a happy tune and even adding a little bounce to her walk; normally, Kagome would have had to race for a little bit of ground for practice, and even then, he had given her a maximum of one hour before she was given the boot. But with him gone, she had taken full advantage of it, spending an entire day devoted to her swinging, and the next throwing her curveballs, and the next jogging, and so forth; it was nice to spend some time tweaking her abilities without having to worry about an antsy Inuyasha telling her she was five minutes past her limit.

The summer of 1995 had been the last year Grandpa had in him, and although he had become considerably weaker and slightly more useless, he had made sure to spend as much of his free time on the field, teaching her the tricks of the trade. And for every time that Ayumi caught the two trying to sneak out, she made sure to talk their ears off, trying to rope Kagome into being a lady and Grandpa into passing his legacy to someone else.

"But she has so much potential!" he would always begin, and Ayumi would cut him off furiously, telling him that it was no use trying to mold _her_ daughter into something _he_ had been, and that Souta would be happy to learn when he was older. Then she would stomp off to her room, smoldering while Grandpa sat on the couch beside Kagome, smiling and winking until she grinned again and made plans to meet tomorrow.

In the meantime, for the days that the old man couldn't make it past his daughter, Kagome spent the time with her friends, walking to local restaurants, shopping, chatting on phones, just about anything. As the lazy days of cricket chirps and hot nights rolled by, she became more interested and active in her social life, although making sure that baseball would be her top priority. _Always_.

Then one day, Eri had suggested she try out for the girls' baseball team. The sign-up sheets had been posted since the end of last year, so Kagome had to act quickly. Interested? Eri handed her a piece of paper with names and numbers scrawled across, and she had taken it with great curiosity. "Make sure you talk to the coach!" the girl had instructed as they walked down the street, and Kagome nodded thoughtfully. Later that night, she called to arrange for try-outs, and by the end of the week, she had become a part of the Furijima Tigers and was practicing on the school's baseball field. By the time it was school again, Kagome had earned herself a reputation for being quick on her feet, and she became even _more_ popular than before, wrapped in baseball and boys and parties.

Inuyasha had returned within the second week of eleventh grade, and she lay still underneath her warm covers, half-waiting for her alarm to go off and half-listening as the doors outside slammed shut. There was plenty of clattering, but it was accounted for the excessive amount of luggage they had brought along. Other than that, there had been absolutely no sounds or voices coming from next door.

The next day, Ayumi had slid in front of Kagome before she had finished her cereal and suggested Kagome walk to school with him like last year. She had shrugged neutrally, dropping the spoon into the bowl with a clank. "Whatever," was her reply, and she rose from her seat, grabbing her backpack with her.

The two met in front of his house as usual, and they stayed the normal distance from each other... perhaps a little farther apart than last year. If possible, Inuyasha had grown even more reclusive than before, ambling along with glazed eyes. Kagome had been no better, but instead of spacing off, she was running thoughts through her head, wondering if she should ask how the vacation went, if chocolate cows really did exist, or if a clone had replaced the foul-mouthed boy during the trip to Amsterdam. Just as she had opened her mouth to speak, Yuka had appeared a little more than a few feet away, waving and motioning her to join. The girl trotted forward, all smiles and no thoughts of the boy beside her. Not like he cared, either- he was still staring stupidly into the distance.

Eleventh grade was when Kagome had begun to lose her effervescence. Her grades had fallen from top ten to top thirty, but she readily engaged herself in baseball, throwing her passion into it. She played fierce with every game and contributed spirit to the team, making sure it stayed as a group and not as a clutter of individuals with different tactics. She was, in every sense, a team player through thick and thin.

Coincidentally, Inuyasha had also tried out for the boys' team, and he had, of course, been selected. The boys were a lot rougher and pumped with _way_ more competition, and as much as she hated to admit it, their games _were_ a lot more exciting. In one of the many she and her friends had attended, Kagome had found herself catching her breath along with the audience and watching as he took the bat. Would he make it? Curveballs were his weakness even after all these years, and she looked on as he readied, shifting a little to get comfortable, and then a drab, tense silence blanketed everyone as the pitcher tried to think of a plan. He settled for a fastball, which had been a very sore miscalculation as the bat hit with a crack, and in a blink, Inuyasha was already at second- no, third base, and by the time she could take in what had happened, he had already slid towards home base, earning two points in their favor. Such a quick play...! He had been practicing everyday, no doubt.

In February Grandpa had fallen violently ill and passed away the same month, and Kagome's wide-eyed grin drastically became a small, pathetic smile barely sustaining itself. Her mother's company had granted her two weeks for the funeral procession and to collect herself, and Ayumi bravely rejected. There was no way she could afford to miss the minimal paycheck, or else she'd risk the electric and water bill, so the woman pressed on with work, waking up everyday with a broken heart and moving for the bathroom in a ghostly manner. Some days Kagome found her staring blankly into the mirror, the blush applicator almost brushing her cheeks as her mother's thoughts chanted away like a mantra: _I will not break down, I will not break down, I will not break down._

Kagome's grades had fallen from the top thirty to the top one hundred, as she had begun to divide her time between baseball and a seven year old Souta. He had been too young to understand what had happened, but old enough to know that something _had_ happen. She stopped walking to school with Inuyasha, and more often than not, she found herself skipping baseball practice to care for her brother. Her appearance had taken on a sloppy look as dark circles graced her face, and the little, red ribbon hung limply around her neck in a pathetic twist of a bow. The baseball field had been forgotten, Inuyasha the jerk had been forgotten, and her friends had been forgotten, although they had fully accepted her situation and waited patiently for her to return.

She never did.

The summer of 1996 came four months later, and by then Ayumi had become something of a hollow shell slowly learning to let go and move on. Eventually, Souta had expressed an interest in some community activities (mainly soccer), and his afternoons were filled with kicking and scoring and bouncing the ball on his head. Kagome had returned to the school's field for the baseball camp, sorely out of condition, but her teammates all welcomed her back, relieved one of their top players had not given up her favorite sport.

She bounced back in no time, but it hadn't given her the same, relaxing feeling as before; she had remembered sitting in the dugout one day, watching her teammates perform during a practice game when a thought hit her out of nowhere: _Mom lied_. All her life Ayumi had denied her the chance for Grandpa to pass on what he knew, giving the excuse that Souta could learn later. It was always later this, later that for the woman, she realized, and now he was buried six feet under the ground with nothing to pass on to any of his grandchildren- no, granddaughter. Kagome flinched, a sudden hot, white anger bursting inside her, and she seethed quietly. _Well, look what 'later' did to him._

From then on, a slight resentment hung over her and directed itself towards her mother. Guilt struck Kagome every time she found Ayumi slaving over the kitchen or filling out a few forms for work at two in the morning or praying to Buddha for the family's happiness, and she was instantly ashamed to even _have_ any small trace of animosity, be it subconscious or not. Kagome hid those feelings well, putting it through baseball four times a week and meeting up with her old friends nearly everyday and avoiding her mother as much as possible.

By the time she was in twelfth grade, Ayumi had sat down in front of Kagome, and before she could open her mouth, the girl had already gotten up and was running out of the house, late for school. It had happened consecutively for two months, and the woman finally gave up, much to Kaoru's aggravation. Kagome still had the same pep and persistence inside of her, but she had lost her naive optimism along with a few friends and grades- she had slipped out of the top two hundred by now. The only thing that proved stable in her life was baseball, and despite it not giving her same peace of mind like last time, she felt that if the last constant of her old life were to disappear, then she would somehow disappear, too.

A sharp rap on the window jerked Kagome out of sleep one winter night; she had been leaning towards a light sleeper nowadays, but it seemed it wasn't light enough. She had nodded off again when there was another tap, and then another, and so on until she finally realized it couldn't have been a raccoon trying to humor itself at her expense. She had struggled to roll off her bed and crawled towards the window, still lost in the fuzzy haze of her mind. Once she had managed to stumble into a standing position and pried open her eyes, Kagome found herself face to face with brown eyes staring intently at her, at which she promptly reacted by giving a small yell and falling backwards onto her rump. Who was this person, and why was he looking inside her room? If he was a peeper, then he would be in for a rude awakening once she opened the window and pushed--

"It's me," the boy muffled against the window, his breath fogging up the panels; he growled, annoyed when she continued to look up at him vacuously.

"Inuyasha? Your next door neighbor?"

Then it had clicked, and Kagome scrambled to unlock the latch so the boy wouldn't fall backwards and kill himself. Speaking of which, how _had_ he scaled the wall- oh, wait, there was the water pipe, and if she tried, she could have wedged her foot between-- oh, truly impressive. He jumped softly onto the floor and turned to find her still staring at him, her hair mussed and her eyes barely open. "Why are you here?"

"To sleep," Inuyasha had replied as if it were obvious, looking around for something decent to lie on. But if he had any hopes to take advantage of her while she was dead, they had been thrown out the window. Her eyes _really_ snapped open for a moment, and she gawked at such a straightforward answer (or was it a _command_?).

"Oh, no you don't," Kagome said immediately, struggling to keep her voice hushed. Even in the middle of the night, she had suddenly felt her face prickle in embarrasment, and she was so sure her ears had turned pink- after all, who had ever heard of a boy asking a girl to sleep in her room after nearly seven months of no contact? She had assumed they weren't on speaking level... not that they had been friendly in the first place. "You get out _now_."

"I can't."

"Why not?" she demanded, her patience already gone. Lack of sleep never did suit her mood well, and he answered truthfully, telling her that there was nowhere else to go. She scoffed at his incredulous answer and shook her head. "Forget it. Go sleep in your _own_ bedroom then!"

This was not a good rejoinder, as Inuyasha suddenly glared down at her. "What makes you think I would go sneak into your house at two o' _fuckin'_ clock in the morning if I could sleep in my own bed?" he snapped, and she opened her mouth to snap right back... before realizing that for the first time in her life, Kagome had no answer, since that had been the first logical thing she had heard him say.

"So why can't you?" she shifted uncomfortably, hoping he hadn't caught her loss for words. Besides, she really didn't want him to bunk here if he had another available option; in a way, she was hoping to be a last resort. A _really_ last resort. Kagome withered as he shot her another blistering glare, realizing too late that this rebuttal wasn't any better than the last one.

"Mind your own business," Inuyasha muttered before directing his glare somewhere else. "Now are you gonna let me--" A muffled noise behind him cut off the rest of the sentence, and Kagome darted her eyes past him, her interest wandering. He gazed at her suspiciously, already _seeing_ the curiosity peak; he hadn't been her neighbor for six years and not learn anything, and it was no exception when it came to the idiot girl sticking her nose where it didn't belong. "Don't-"

Too late. "Move it." She had pushed him out of the way and edged towards the open window- it was _her_ house, and no one was going to tell her what to do in it! Ignoring his sound of surprise, Kagome stuck her head over the windowsill and glanced around; maybe it had been some stray animal? But then again, stray animals didn't really make like a minute ago... unless it was a bear, but she highly doubted that.

"Get the hell back in," a voice hissed behind her, and she felt Inuyasha's warm hands wrap around her elbow, tugging her. Kagome shook him off and shot him an irritated glare before turning back. "It could be a burglar--"

Across from her, inside Inuyasha's house, the same noise echoed dully again, and this time, she could make out very muted voices. Hadn't his father once shown her the inner contour of the house once for an eighth grade science project? And hadn't he said that the materials used to build his home were literally soundproof? She could only guess his parents were yelling very loudly if she was able to hear from outside. There was a good deal of thumpings followed by more voices, and she wondered how loud it actually was inside...

Kagome shut the window and turned around, about to give permission when she saw Inuyasha had already gotten comfortable with one of her pillows on the floor. "Hey...!" There was no answer, and she planted a hand on her hips. "You're only staying here tonight. _Just_ tonight, you got that?" He ignored her, and she had no choice but to let him take the rug; as she climbed into bed, exhaustion still heavy in her eyelids, she murmured a small 'night' to him and threw the top blanket onto the floor. He hadn't bothered, but Kagome was already snoring softly to care.

The next day she woke to find only herself in her room- he had left by means of the window again, and she carried on as if nothing had happened. It had been a one-time thing, and it would _stay_ a one-time thing. Nothing had changed between them- he had gone back to ignoring her and hiding out in the baseball field, and she had done the same, ignoring him and hiding out at baseball practice, running laps and conditioning for the season. And on a very special Friday, one of her close friends, Hojo, had stopped her at a stoplight corner and proposed a steady relationship between the two.

She accepted, of course, along with the hug that went with it, and all weekend Yuka and Eri kept harassing her via phone, pressing for information and all of its juicy tidbits. By the time she was able to pull the receiver from her ear, it had been ringing a lovely, dull tune of her two friends screaming, and she went to bed a tired but _very_ happy girl.

Inuyasha appeared by her window on Sunday, his puffs of breath hitting the clear panels. He rapped once, twice, and thrice before she stirred from her sleep and rose to a sitting position, looking positively drained. He knocked once more to get her attention, and she slowly turned her head to the left to find him balancing quite perilously above the ground.

She took her time getting to where he was, and even as she reached there, Kagome didn't lift the latch up immediately. "You know, I told you it was only going to be for one night," she said, and he looked at her, noncommittal. (And she knew these words were getting to him- the walls were _that_ thin.)

"You should really go back and use your bed once in a while." A blank stare.

"I have a boyfriend now, you know. He wouldn't appreciate this." Blink. He continued to gaze at her, unfazed by any of the things she had just said, and Kagome sighed loudly, suddenly very, _very_ tired.

She unhooked the hinge, letting the window swing open.

-


	10. Chapter Nine: Second Base

**A/N:** OK. Typed this out really, really fast. No editing at all, so it's gonna be really rough. Going to Connecticut in, what, three seconds? MWAH, will edit this when I get home (Tuesday), and look out for another chapter. Maybe.

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha is not mine. But if I sit outside Takahashi's home long enough...

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**Chapter 9: Second Base**

_Nghi

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_

Inuyasha sat inside the dug-out, his face pulled into a sulk as always. It was his trademark, one he had developed carefully over the course of his teenage years. His mom was always telling him how much cuter he looked when he had various expressions across his face, which wasn't exactly comforting- hell, he was _eighteen_ now. He didn't need to look cute- he needed to look tough and manly, just like his father and older brother.

Well, OK, Sesshoumaru wasn't really manly... he was really on the verge of feminine and graceful, and it wouldn't surprise him one bit if the girly boy came home wearing toe shoes and a leotard with his hair pulled into a high bun. Inuyasha shook his head, trying to shake the disturbing image away. A picture of his brother squatting up and down wasn't really helping his life. Actually, it made Inuyasha want to laugh, but laughing wouldn't help home, now would it?

Ah, home. _Just_ what he wanted to dwell on at school- his father had given up on his education a long time ago, Sesshoumaru didn't really give a flying fuck either way, and Kaoru only spared a minute or two to remind him to pick up a pencil. He rolled his eyes, still remembering that morning- she had burst out of the door like a spinning tornado of jewelry and perfume, and five minutes later, as he got up from the dining chair, she had blown right back in, telling him to "do his homework" like every, single morning. And every, single day he wouldn't.

Just to spite her, of course.

So why was Inuyasha skulking on top of the benches? Was he sad that his family wasn't the same like during his childhood? Were his parents' demeaning and damaging actions affecting him? Was his father's negligence and his mother's ignorance on his social and educational part causing him to retreat further into himself, making him anti-social? Was Sesshoumaru's unwillingness to contribute as an older mentor and brother and loving family member the reason why Inuyasha could never smile and only frown and growl and glare?

_Hell_ no. He really didn't want his mother to coddling him like a baby- it was plain embarrassing. His father was usually off on those late-night meetings or trips around the world, so it meant more freedom to him. (Although he admitted that sharing a passion of baseball with the old man was pretty cool.) And Inuyasha _definitely_ didn't want Sesshoumaru showing his face around here; he was about as much fun as a rock, and every time they were within the same room, some stupid argument never failed to come up. The last time the loser appeared was during spring break, and they had gotten into a little tiff at the beach concerning personal space.

But perhaps the one thing Sesshoumaru _did_ contribute to the mold was his facial impression-- Inuyasha hated to agree, but _God_ was his brother good at looking aloof. He could barely imagine the reaction when the man would come home for Thanksgiving only to find his younger brother wearing the same face, though, so what Inuyasha did was opt for a slightly more scathing look... and it happened to be sulking. The big advantage of looking cross everyday was that it scared off almost all the stupid people, which was a good thing because there was _no_ way he could wake up to the thought of being surrounded by mindless bubbleheads every, single goddamn day. So it was a win-win situation, with no one to bother him; besides, he already had the ditzy Kagome for a neighbor already...

"_Inuyasha_!" a voice interrupted his thoughts rather cheerily, and Inuyasha blinked lazily, hardly moving. Instead, his brown eyes slid over towards the jogging man, and he glared half-heartedly, already wishing the stupid team captain would turn around and jog his ass back to his groupies.

"God, you're fuckin' annoying," Inuyasha commented as he reached the dug-out, and Miroku merely smiled complacently before sitting down beside him. "Who said you could sit here?" It wasn't really a matter of property- Inuyasha just wanted to be left alone. In fact, he had been praying everyday that for one lunch period -one!-, the boy would realize what a bother he truly was and leave him with his sulky face by himself.

Of course, Inuyasha wasn't one who had good graces with God.

"I was under the impression that this seat was not reserved for anyone," Miroku said, and he only smiled a little wider as the boy scowled. That idiot knew Inuyasha sat here everyday-- what the hell? Did he _not_ see the deathly look in his eyes? Did he _not_ see the glimmer that promised pain and torture if he didn't move is chatty, little butt elsewhere? Did he _not_ see the hands flexing, waiting for the right moment to encircle his neck and squeeze? Hard? For crying out loud, wasn't his_ face _working properly!

"Do I have something?" Miroku touched his cheek innocently.

"What the hell do you want?" Inuyasha promptly ignored his teammate's question. "You _always_ sit next to me at lunch. Can't you find somewhere else to sit down and babble?"

"Inuyasha, I am sorely offended," Miroku began, and his eyes reflected hurt and wounded feelings. "As the captain of the baseball team, I wholeheartedly believe it is my duty to interact with all of my teammates so we can know each other better and perform more smoothly in later games."

"You don't sit next to anyone else."

"True," he nodded, flashing a smile and waving charmingly at a group of giggling girls. "But then again, none of them put the 'i' in 'team' like you do." He blinked, rather surprised at his last comment. "Oh, that's a pretty good one. Better write that one down..."

Inuyasha watched with slight curiosity as Miroku whipped out a notebook from his bag and a pen from his pocket... and then promptly began to recount everything that had transpired a few seconds ago. "What are you doing?" he couldn't help but blurt out a moment later, and the second it slipped he knew it had been a mistake. Dammit, a whole year of lunch spent with Miroku must have been rubbing off him... The boy's head was still bent down, but there was no way anyone could have missed the mischief dancing in his voice as he replied.

"Why, I didn't know you were interested." Inuyasha merely scowled again, turning his head sharply and rising from the bench. He swiped at the backpack and started quickly out of the dug-out, ignoring the slight rustle of the paper. A few moments later, Miroku called to his back. "I'm trying to start my own religion following!"

"I don't care," was the quick, blase reply. Although it would be funny- he had seen, or rather _heard_, in the locker room about some of the things his captain had done, and needless to say, the man would make a hell of a strip club manager. As he was halfway across the sand, trudging for the exit, Miroku's voice called out again, echoing clearly:

"I can be your friend, you know!"

There it was, loud and simple and clear: his true intentions. So that was why he had been hanging around with him at lunchtime, and why he made sure to talk to him as much as possible. Aw, the boy was born naturally friendly, and even friendlier with the girls. It was just too bad that he couldn't take the hint at the beginning of the year when Inuyasha said he _wanted to be alone_. Besides, he probably did the same with everyone else, so it wasn't like it mattered much. If Miroku was expecting him to turn around and come running back to lick his feet and express his 'gratitude', he was wrong.

Inuyasha gave a short, vulgar wave that involved one finger.

-

"Gosh, Kagome," Eri squealed, hopping up and down. "I can't believe we're seniors!"

"Well, believe it- we _have_ been for the past year," Kagome interjected dryly, but the upward quirk in her mouth belied her comment.

"Yeah, but now that graduation's, like, _two_ months away, I just realized it!" Eri paused to flick something off her skirt. "I mean, it just feels like we were up a grade at the beginning of the year, and the work's a little harder than usual, you know?"

She really didn't know, but Kagome nodded her head anyways. Best not get the girl into any sort of tirade, or she might have to listen to it all the way home. Not that she didn't enjoy talking to her friends or anything, but they could be so uptight over the stupidest details and then completely turn around and be so impasse about the big matters, like _finals_, for instance. And speaking of exams, she really didn't want to take that calculus test on Wednesday- it sounded very mean and tough. Kagome had enough troubles already, and she didn't need some math grade kicking her butt--

"Kagome?" Eri's voice cut in, startling her.

"Yes! Yes, I am listening one hundred percent," she said aloud, hoping her friend hadn't noticed. She had to stop zoning out one of these days...

"Right," Eri nodded confidently before opening her mouth again. (For Kagome's part, she couldn't believe her friends still swallowed that excuse.) "Anyways. I was asking you about how you two lovebirds were doing."

It was out of the pan and into the fire for her, wasn't it? Kagome gave a _loud_ sigh. "Not this again..."

"Hey, it's important!"

"_What_? No, it's not!" She crossed her arms, looking very irritated. "Come on, just give it a rest, already. We always go into this topic every time we walk home. And every time it's always the same answer. 'We're doing fine. He gives me a lot of presents. We go out once in a while.'"

"But relationships change quickly, my friend," Eri pointed out in her usual level-headed way. "Friendships are like diamonds- they last forever. But that's only if you haven't dropped them into the sink, and if you do that, then you just lost 15,000 yen, my friend. But romance-ships are different. They're like mercury- one day you'll be all in the groove, and the next, your feelings are about as warm as being butt-naked in the middle of winter."

"Thank you so much for the mental image. I'll carry that and your piece of advice around for the rest of my life," Kagome said pleasantly, and her friend beamed. Wow... sincerity and sarcasm were the same for this girl...

"So now that you know, _tell_ me how you two are coming along." She leaned forward, anticipation dancing in her eyes.

She groaned, but it didn't deter Eri's determination, and after a few more minutes of persistence, she caved. "OK, OK, just shut up about the whole diamonds and romances and whatever," she groused. "Here's what's 'going on' between Hojo and me." If possible Eri leaned in even more.

"This week, he's given me a total of five presents: two pink barrettes, a little silver ring, a butterfly necklace, and a bottle of calcium pills."

"Calcium?" She blinked, and Kagome nodded.

"His family runs a pharmacy, and I mentioned to him on one of our dates that I had weak ankles, so... yeah." It had been strange when he presented her the bottle on one of their Sunday walks, beaming with pride. Weak ankles were hereditary in her family, she had added quickly, since an earlier incident had occurred similarly (She had only mentioned of a small headache, and the poor boy went and got her some iron supplements.). But nevertheless, Hojo had decided it was his duty to fill her up with pills of all sorts until she was 'healthy' again.

"Oh, that is _so_ adorable!" Eri squealed a second time, and Kagome arched an eyebrow. How on earth did receiving _calcium_ constitute as 'adorable'? Eri answered her question a moment later when she sighed and shook her head. "Poor Hojo. He's hopelessly giving himself up to you, and you're just so... blah about it. You're _so_ clueless when it comes to love."

What? Had she missed something here? How did the conversation veer off-track so suddenly? "It's not _love_... it's like-like. And how is he 'giving himself up' to me exactly, anyways?"

"Look at all the presents you received!" her friend pointed out oh-so obviously. "Guys _never_ buy stuff for their girlfriends. And they don't even remember their birthdays, either! Hojo, on the other hand, remembered your one-week anniversary--"

"Well, that's a given."

"Your two-week anniversary--"

"That's also a given."

"Your one-month anniversary--"

"Well- I remembered two days later..."

"And your birthday!" she finished, counting off her fingers. "That's amazing in itself that _any_ male species on earth could do any of that. And to top it off, he's going extra slow with you!"

Kagome shot the bumbling girl an annoyed look. "Extra...? Oh, stop exaggerating. It's not _that_ slow."

"Kagome, have you _kissed_ him yet?"

She burst into a surprised coughing fit, and the two had to stop while she leaned against a wall, trying to even her breath. "E-excuse me?" she managed to choke out.

Eri looked her dead in the eye, and Kagome realized that she was serious about the question, and that her friend knew she had heard perfectly. It wasn't a giggly schoolgirl poking at an overrated subject, but a rather painful jab that hinted at reality; she really _was_ a good friend, Kagome realized. And then she also realized something else- that no, she hadn't kissed Hojo yet, that no, she hadn't felt that weird, tingling sensation when he touched her, that no, her heart didn't race when he held her hands, and that no, all those gifts had barely elicited some form of happiness inside her.

And then an uneasy thought came to her mind, putting a small, doubting black cloud over her head- what if she didn't _like_ her boyfriend?

But a moment later, her senses returned, and she brushed the panic off- she had never been in a relationship before, so she couldn't really tag her lukewarm feelings as not feeling anything for Hojo. He was a nice boy who loved to shower her with attention (and gifts, apparently.)- maybe she was still uncomfortable with the prospect of swimming in presents nearly every other day. Yeah... that was probably it; there was no need to jump to conclusions or anything. Besides, what were the chances that the 'feelings' described in those smutty romance novels were true, anyway?

"Kagome, you're going to have to stop spacing out on me one of these days," Eri sighed. "I swear, it's like you're so _ungrateful_ or something..."

Feeling better at her self-consolation, she ignored the comment and answered merrily, "Nah, I haven't lipped him or anything."

"...You _do_ know 'lipped' isn't a word, right?"

She shrugged, light-hearted again. "Eh. You know what I mean. But I don't think my boyfriend and I have to do inappropriate things to show our affections. We are perfectly content and can find other ways to have fun, too, you know."

Eri shook her head sadly. "That's the most pathetic excuse ever. 'He respects my body' is one thing, but when you've gone and practically put a 'don't-touch-me' sign on top of your head--"

"I didn't say I was off-limits!" Kagome protested indignantly, but it failed to quiet the girl.

"--You're always so stiff every time he tries to approach you intimately--"

"Now wait a minute, it's called personal space for a reason!"

"--So unless you're allergic to your boyfriend, I think it's really because..." Eri trailed off for a moment, and a little gleam worked its way into her eyes. "...because you _like_ someone else." She finished with a sly grin, and it almost sent Kagome back into a coughing fit again. "Ha, I knew it! You've got a crush on another person! Who's not your boyfriend!" she crowed triumphantly. "Oh, Yuka's gonna be _so_ pissed she wasn't here. So tell me, who is it, who is it?"

"Please, you've got to be kidding me. I don't like anyone else," Kagome snapped, regaining her composure. "I'm perfectly fine with Hojo, thank you very much."

"_Sure_," Eri gave an exaggerated, conspicuous wink, and she was hit with another epiphany for the day: her friends would never get the point, no matter how many times they've been shot down. Kagome gave a loud sigh as Eri proceeded to list off the boys in their grade... no, in the entire _school_. "Takashi. Tell me it's Takashi!"

Kagome gave up trying to prove to her friends otherwise- it was too much work, and not to mention they were a lost cause. They had been for a long time, actually. As long as she knew the truth, it wouldn't bother her anymore.

"What about Ken? He's got a nice smile, but he's like, two years younger than you, though..."

Nope, she didn't care at all, and Kagome proved it by pretending to tune out the conversation. She had just deemed her friends thick-headed, and no amount of agitated comments could change that. Yes, the boys being listed were fast dwindling in both age and grade, and yes, Eri _could_ go on and on to the point where she was naming third graders, but once again, she didn't care--

"Guri, then!"

--didn't care--

"Yoshioko?"

--didn't care--

"Mayuro!"

--goddammit, didn't care--

"Hey, there's Inuyasha across the street! I bet it's him, right?"

Kagome ditched Eri at a stop sign.

-


	11. Chapter Ten: Second Base

**A/N:** OK. To quickly outline this- **1.** Connecticut was fun. **2.** AP Biology pwns my life. **3.** Updates will be restricted to weekends and holidays because of school. **4.** A review would be nice. Just a little, eensy review... (OK. That was really sad and pathetic.)

Oh, and this is gonna be a short chapter. Hehe. Gotta start on those Biology chapters...

**Disclaimer:** Junior year does not leave any time for me to screw around with Inuyasha!

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**Chapter 10: Second Base**

_Nghi

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_

She entered the house, letting the door shut none too gently behind her before kicking off the brown loafers. She had left Eri on a sour note, ditching the girl before she could open her mouth again. Of all the ridiculous...! Kagome fumed silently, dropping her bag onto the floor; it had been bad enough that Eri had mentioned a few first years in her quest to nail Kagome's 'secret crush', but her _next_ door neighbor? The two were like oil and water- they just didn't mix, and there was _no_ way they would ever. Besides, it outright pissed her off that Eri would think that any male was automatically a candidate- she wasn't desperate at all, and it had hit a slight nerve that her friend thought of her as very low maintenance. Somehow, Kagome highly doubted she would develop a burning, soul-smothering crush on an elementary school kid or _him_ any time soon. She had high expectations, which included courtesy and chivalry, and she was not sorry to say that neither the former nor the latter had either.

With the final conclusion in mind, Kagome stomped into the kitchen in search for something to eat. It had been a small habit she had developed as a young child- come home from school, rummage through the refrigerator, then work on homework. But lately, with Souta being in third grade and beginning to learn the concept of 'social life', and with her being _way_ past her primary years for an after-school snack, Ayumi had decided the best way to spend her free time for the past year and a half was not cooking or cleaning or reading, but sleeping. A lot. If there was ever a contest for the person who could remain unconscious the longest, the woman would take home the prize.

Kagome heard a bed spring creak upstairs, followed by a small rustle, and she rolled her eyes. Her mother had completely taken 'potato' to a whole, new level. It wasn't that she was lazy- on the contrary, she worked two jobs and worked by the idea of 'opportunity'. Any free shift? Ayumi was the woman to go to, always eager to please and hestitant to say no. No doubt she was a favorite among her past employers, known for her ability to work to the bones for barely minimum wages. Her motto had always been along the lines of 'take what you can get', after all.

But with all the extra jobs running around, the woman almost had no time for her family. Kagome wrinkled her nose at the thought- _family_. They weren't even one anymore, anyways. Everyone was off doing their own thing, with Souta meeting friends everyday and her going to school and baseball practice and their mom slaving over everyone else just to make ends more than just meet. She always insisted in providing the best for her children, and ideally, it was a very good cause. But that didn't mean she could just run off and leave her family in shatters; it was downright _selfish_ to expect Kagome to piece them back together while Ayumi dozed the rest of her life away. Saying 'no' once in a while wouldn't kill their annual income, either; they could be on the streets and living in a cardboard box, and Kagome wouldn't have given a damn. Just once, she'd like to her mother drop the car keys, back away from her uniforms, and sit down to enjoy _one_ evening with her and Souta.

But life was life, and Kagome knew very well that it was not fair, and it would never be fair. Instead, she gave a bitter sigh at the barren shelves inside her refrigerator before shutting the door and grabbing an apple out of the fruit bowl as an alternative. In a few steps, she was at the bottom of the stairs and already shuffling upwards, thinking of how to spend the rest of today. It was nice and sunny, and usually there _would_ have been baseball practice, but the 'brief' teacher's meeting had dragged out unexpectedly, and she had ended up with a free afternoon.

Kagome stepped on leather and nearly tripped herself back down the stairs. She would have broken her skull, too, had it not been for her grip on the railing. "What the...?" She leaned forward, glaring at the object that had attempted to snap her neck in half. Her irascibility increased tenfold as she realized it was her mom's black pumps- it was the fourth time this week, and she would _not_ let Ayumi get away with it. If Kagome was forced to clean her room on a weekly basis, then _she_ should be forced to do the same, too!

Getting to her feet, Kagome tromped up the rest of the stairs and down the hallway, where she burst open the bedroom door with one hand on her hips and the other waving the shoe madly. "God, Mom, there's a reason why we have a shoe--" She cut off her own words, her mouth hanging and her eyes widening frighteningly.

As a side note, let it be known that Ayumi wasn't very big on surprises. If possible, she tried to remain as predictable as often; it just wasn't in her nature to be spontaneous, or else Kagome would have grown up differently. Schedules were her friends, and daily planners were her life, to an extent. So it wasn't the fact that Kagome found her mother in bed- that was normal, and everyday occurrence.

It was the fact that she was in bed with _another man_.

In that moment, Kagome was positively blown out of the water; _never_ had she expected this. The impact of seeing her mother and some _man_ was a hit to the stomach, and she felt a cold wave of... of _something_ rapidly approaching before reaching out and crashing on top of her, blanketing and smothering her... her what? Her emotions? Her thoughts? Her breath? Her life? It was like watching a third-person, omniscient dream as Ayumi scrambled out of bed and her partner running for his shoes and pants. Her mother was saying something, looking absolutely terrified, and the man was opening and closing his mouth with his ears tinged red, but all she heard was nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Then the wave began to pull back slowly and gently, freeing her and allowing the cacophony and voices to fill the empty spaces inside her head, first warbling incomprehensibly and eventually becoming clearer and more defined. And as the voices started gaining tone and sound and pitch, her feelings and her thoughts started from the ground and painfully dug its way up, leaving behind prickles and goosebumps in their wake.

Until finally, her mom uttered, "_Kagome_."

It was her name that broke it all, the delicate barrier that had just as quickly been erected as it had fallen, and suddenly the girl was bombarded with a mixture of hurt and anger and betrayal (Betrayal from what?) and sadness and shock and-and _everything_. When did this happen? _Why_ did this happen? How did it happen? All the thoughts, questioning and raging, burned through her head, and Kagome began to tremble just a little.

"Kagome," Ayumi tried again, pleading, and behind her, Yamaguchi was breathing quietly and unevenly, looking more than uncomfortable as he buttoned up his shirt. "I think... we need to talk..." A few seconds later, she got her answer as the black heel hurtled forward, aiming dangerously for her head. Instinctively Ayumi put up her hands to block her face, steeling herself against the impact, but it never came- instead, there was a hiss and a dull thud to the ground, and she lifted her head to see Yamaguchi rubbing his forearm painfully.

"That girl can really throw," he commented awkwardly, the shoe by his feet. "Are you all- whoa!" He stumbled backwards a bit as the woman shoved his hands away and ran out into the hallway.

"Kagome!" Ayumi yelled, and she turned around the corner to see the door slam shut followed by the sound of the lock clicking. "Kagome!" she screamed again, stumbling up to the white door, her hands already pounding and knocking and jiggling the doorknob before she had come to a complete stop. "Come out!"

Her ears were buzzing loudly, but not enough to drown out her mother's desperate voice. The fact that the woman had the absolute gall to sound concerned and worried and caring and deceptively desperate... she inhaled shakily, trying to calm her frazzled nerves, but it only drove her a little more over the edge. "We need to talk, please!"

Kagome nearly choked out loud; now that she had caught her mom having sex with some guy, the woman was so racked with guilt that she actually _wanted_ to sit down and talk like a _normal_ family? After all this time, when she had secretly wished for Ayumi to stop for one moment and notice her daughter... and when the day finally came, it came in a form of an affair behind her back. Her _daughter's_ back. Her _brother's_ back. Her mother actually had the nerve to bring someone home-

Home. Was it even one anymore?

The poundings and bangings and desperate pleas were eating away at what little order was left inside of her head, and Kagome found herself breathing a little more raggedly. It was too small suddenly, and her thoughts just weren't hers anymore- they were replaced by babbles and bedlam and turbulence and _too much stuff was going on at once_! Her feelings were turned around and screwed completely, and she realized amidst everything clouding her judgment and thinking that she had to get out of here. Fast.

Ayumi screamed her name again, but Kagome was already at the window, unlatching it and sticking her left leg out. Another yell, and half her body had disappeared. By the third "Kagome", the girl really was gone, away from the room and away from the house and away from the mess that had once been her family.

-


	12. Chapter Eleven: Second Base

**A/N:** Yeah, so I definitely missed the Columbus' Day mark. The truth is, homecomings and angst and switching-out-of-AP-History ordeals and a lot of crying and AP Bio happened. So by the time I actually _had_ time to write and everything, I wanted to sleep. A lot. And I was trying to figure out a way to write Chapter 11, too, except I had this written out for two months, but I didn't like it, and I kept trying to rewrite it before realizing that it couldn't go any other way. Yeah.

In conclusion? I have time now, and I'll try to get back into some semblance of a writing schedule, OK?

**Disclaimer:** (incessant sobbing in the background)

* * *

**Chapter 11: Second Base**

_Nghi

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_

There were moments in life that hit a rough patch, but Kagome had always prided herself in facing them with a calm air of resonance. To be clear, she wasn't a mat anyone could step all over on; she was certainly rowdy and adventurous and fire spitting... to a degree. People's feelings mattered, and she made sure to check herself before crossing the line.

The way Kagome had always approached emotions gave her the opinion that she herself was mature, and she really _was_- there were so many examples that demonstrated her willingness to compromise and listen even when things had turned for the worse. When Eri had accidentally dropped her paper into a puddle of orange juice that one time in tenth grade, she hadn't exploded and yelled at her friend for being so incredibly clumsy. On the contrary, Kagome had waved it off with a gentle smile to the flustered girl, promising her it would be OK and that she could deal with one zero in math class. Yes, it had been an apparent lie, since they both knew her grade for algebra II at that time had been bordering on a D, and yes, she had been very disheartened that all her hard work had ended up in a dripping wad of paper, but accidents will happen, and she had always had an inclination of holding ill feelings towards a subject rather than towards a person.

Or the other time at the beginning of the year, when Yuka had gotten word that some girl had spread rumors involving her and a nose job within the same context. She had raved on and on for two, grueling periods, and by the end of lunch, she had been ready to knock out a few teeth and break a nose. But Kagome had managed to wheedle her friend out of the bad idea with her usual level-headedness, reminding Yuka to save her fist as a last resort, and in the end, rational won over irrational. It had been the first time her friends had praised her ability to be calm and decisive, and she had grinned embarrassingly, looking somewhat flattered. Maybe they were right- her strength lay in her warm-hearted nature (Inuyasha not included.) and her analysis of the situation before starting anything.

And in retrospect, as Kagome ran through the tall, whispering grass fields with nothing for a destination and her thoughts slowly unraveling, she realized dimly that thinking and _then_ acting wasn't always as good as it sounded- the more she tried to focus on Ayumi and the man, the more disoriented her feelings became, shifting constantly between varying degrees of hurt. What would happen if she had stayed there to completely analyze the entire thing? What would happen if she hadn't followed her first instinct and bolted from the two? What if--

Her foot hit against a rock, and her thoughts scattered everywhere as she rocketed forward, her skirt flying and her arms flailing to brace the impact. A few seconds later, her breath was stolen away for the second time that day, but for a completely different reason; her lower arms were the first to reach the ground, followed by her body, and at first there was only white numbness and spots before her eyes and nothing else- everything had stopped for a breathtaking second. But a moment later the familiar, physical pain shot through her ribs before moving to the end of her elbows, and her knees began to sting from the raw, sliding contact with the ground.

It hurt.

At least it was simple, and Kagome would much rather welcome the habitual feeling of a twisted ankle than the foreign confusion and chaos blowing and screaming inside her head. It made her feel strange and so unlike herself, and she didn't like it. At all.

It wasn't the first time the commotion was inside her head, and it wasn't the first time she felt helpless and useless, the situation out of her hands. Kagome remembered how she had felt when her first cat had died; Buyo had been a bit on the fat side, and he had liked to waddle around sluggishly. As if it wasn't bad enough, the cat had a tendency to roam around the streets, and his fate was sealed one night at three in the morning.

She remembered opening the door and seeing a police officer, his face puckered and grim. She remembered hiding in between the shadows of the staircase while he told her mother what had happened. She remembered crying herself to sleep that night, and the next night, and the next night. Although Buyo didn't do anything for the family, he was _her_ fat cat, her company and pet, and Kagome couldn't deal with the fact that a family member was ripped apart from her so suddenly and without any warning. It was a knife jammed and twisted in her stomach and heart, and she cried so hard for the next two weeks, refusing to eat anything.

But this… this was a lot more difficult and complex. Her _mother_, her _flesh and blood_, was involved directly, and in a sense, she had been taken away from Kagome without so much as a notice. Granted, their relationship had deteriorated since Grandpa had died, and the two had grown apart, each shuttling Souta back and forth for alternative, mandatory babysitting; _that_ was what they had become, and in her mind, she knew that Ayumi had every right to find a new love interest. Theoretically, if she had put herself in her mother's shoes, she would have done the same.

But she just couldn't accept it. (Or was it wouldn't?)

Her temples began to thrum in that dull, painful way, and she shook her head, trying to shake off an oncoming headache- too much had happened in so little time, and Kagome couldn't process it all. There was no point in running away from her problems for a little while if she was only going to end up thinking about it all at once. Another thought hit her, and she realized that she had been wallowing on the dirt for at least a good five minutes, and she made an effort to stand up, brushing off the accumulated grass blades and clumps of dirt stuck to her skirt.

_Might as well see where I am now_, Kagome thought, looking around. Maybe she could hide there for a while, trying to put everything back in place... like her life, maybe.

Her eyes settled on the baseball field.

One of the few places she hadn't visited in a long time. After all, there was the school field already, and she found there wasn't any use for here anymore. But 'anymore' was a very big term, and as Kagome trotted forward, she thought maybe she had been wrong in deeming the place worthless and unnecessary in tenth grade.

In no time, her scraped legs carried her across the field, over the pitcher's mound, and past the fence behind the umpire. The bleachers were terribly run-down, the rust already visible and taking over the seats, but she hardly minded and climbed onto the middle bench. It had always been a sort of haven for her when she was younger, a sedative to calm her angry moods and her frazzled nerves. Or it would have been, but Inuyasha had to make his presence loudly known, and that often interrupted the serenity the place brought her. Nevertheless, there was something about the field that drew her in, and after almost two years, its lure was still strong.

Kagome leaned back, closing her eyes, and she tried to reason with herself again. Maybe a change of surroundings would change her opinions and her thoughts- she hated knowing her mind was rational, but her heart wasn't, and she concentrated on her relationship with her mother, trying to sort it out psychologically. Perhaps it was _she_ who hadn't given the woman the attention? Maybe the man was just a cry for a bond? And it went on for some time like that, her trying to question where the mother-daughter relationship had turned so terribly wrong to the point where Ayumi had to look for a new man for comfort. It was like an invasion of privacy, introducing him into their home of six years, and Kagome felt unusually violated, like he had decided to snatch some part of her territory away. And there it was again, her irrational feelings speaking up and declaring Ayumi had to remain a widow for the rest of her life- when did they become so muddled and so... so _not_ like her? When did--

"Long time no see," a voice interrupted her, and she knew who it was before she had opened her eyes to look at him. "The team kick you out for being annoying?" Inuyasha threw his duffel nearby the fence, just like the past six years and squatted down to retrieve a bat.

Kagome averted her gaze from him and kept quiet- she didn't need to remark, and nor was she in the mood for it. For his part, he didn't care much either way, knowing fully well that his jabs were pretty much half-hearted. "What're you doing here?" he asked instead, throwing a few baseballs near the mound. They fell with dull thuds and rolled a few feet away from the plate. "I didn't think you'd skip a baseball practice in your life just to spend it here with me."

"I didn't," she couldn't help but answer. It consoled her a little to know the tone was downright flat and devoid of any wants of conversation at all, much less with Inuyasha of all people. Then she remembered that he was more persistent than he really let on and quickly added, "And my coming here is none of your business, either." Just in case he decided to prod any further, which she hoped he didn't. He wasn't caring or sensitive like that to give a damn about her problems, and she didn't _want_ him to start caring, either.

Inuyasha didn't fail to prove her wrong as he sauntered over to the mound and turned around, casting a slanted look towards her. "Technically, you forfeited this field when you joined the school's baseball team."

"You joined the boy's team, you know."

"But I still come here, don't I?" he commented before throwing one of the balls into the air and swinging the bat several seconds afterwards- the baseball flew towards her face and careened against the fence, jangling it forcefully before dropping onto the sand. Kagome wasn't one to lie to herself, and as she watched Inuyasha go through the pile, him watching with slight satisfaction as the balls shook the fence violently each time, she admitted grudgingly that he had some formidable skills. It would be a surprise if he didn't enter the major leagues at all; he was a good player, despite the I-am-alone attitude. She thought he needed to work on his people skills, though. A lot.

For a while she observed him hit each baseball successively, retrieve them into a bundle, and start over again- it wasn't because she was _so _amazed by his abilities or capabilities or whatever. It was because he provided a sort of stable cycle that repeated over and over again, and it was somewhat of a comfort to her, just watching him redo and recollect, redo and recollect... Her thoughts began to stray, and she found herself thinking about Souta and the effect of the affair on him. How would he deal with it? _Could_ he deal with it? He was only seven years old, after all... that's a pretty impressionable age; what if it was too big for him to cope, and he reverted to drugs? What if he could never see his family as his family again and become isolated? God, he would be sulky and angsty and going through--

"Oi, you're ruining the atmosphere," Inuyasha interrupted again, effectively cutting off her train of thought. "Can you go away and leave me alone?"

"_What_?" Kagome, for a lack of better expression, looked incredulous, as if he had just asked her to calmly walk off a building. He rolled his eyes- God, what a drama whore.

"You know, move your ass out of the field so I can concentrate?" He made a jerking motion with his hand, very much annoyed at her presence. She was absolutely ruining his qualm by boring holes into his head- it was unnerving and slightly nerve-wrecking, to say the least.

But as he anticipated, she shook her head, hard stubbornness already crossing her features. "I got here first," she protested.

"It doesn't matter- your sulking is distracting. Take it somewhere else." Inuyasha waited for the mandatory 'Shut up' or the 'You sulk more than me' or even the 'Maybe if you had said it nicely...'. But it never came, and he was thrown for a loop when she turned her head away, mumbling an answer. That was surprising in itself, and he couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows in confusion at her lack of counters. Yeah, back when the two were arguing over possession of the field, sometimes she appeared looking all melancholy and sad, but nothing a few insults couldn't turn the depression into anger. And here he was, practically slashing at her dignity tire with a knife, and she was doing nothing but sitting there and taking it!

...Well, _he_ wasn't complaining, now was he?

The only problem was that her sulking really _was_ distracting, and his accuracy wasn't as well as yesterday. And if there's one thing that Inuyasha couldn't stand, it was not being able to beat his own record. So it was either _she_ left, or _he_ left... and there was no way he was giving up a fine day and a free afternoon just so Kagome could brood in peace. "Listen, I'm serious, you're gonna have to leave. Now." He made sure to give her a demeaning glare just for fun. After all, she was too far deep in her state of agony to really yell or fight back.

"I'm not leaving, and besides, I'm not bothering you, anyways." OK... maybe she wasn't _completely_ submissive. He watched as she still avoided his stare and scratched her kneecap absently. This girl was seriously giving him doubts about her sanity- the last time he had seen her (which was a little over an hour ago), she was walking happily with one of her friends home. Then the girl had pointed at him, said something, and Kagome got all pissed off about it. And now here she was, moping on the benches in _his_ baseball field, totally taking away any concentration he had left. Baseball was like the Bible to him- he studied it, he practiced it, and he devoted _time_ to it, and if she thought she could invade his religious time like this, she was _wrong_.

But Kagome was hardheaded, and there was no way in hell he could coerce her to go away- besides, he was bad at persuasive communication, anyways. And he knew enough from past experience that trying to physically remove her would result in some ugly bruises and a big earful of Kaoru's hand and lectures. Inuyasha was verging on manhood and adulthood and age legality, but his aging mother could still whoop his ass if she wanted to. (But that was a secret!) (That his mom was aging, that is.) After a few, painful lessons in the past, he had learned the hard way not to lay a hand on any girl. Or at the very least, he had grown out of stage; all in all, Inuyasha was helpless when it came to removing Kagome and her decaying shell of an existence from _his benches_. But at the same time, he couldn't give up his practice time, either...

"Fine," Inuyasha ground out, looking very much irritated, "just _stop_ moping."

"I'm not," she said, her eyes beginning to glint. Dammit, she was getting some of that spunk back. And just when he was enjoying the floor mat so much, too! There was only one thing to do to stop the 'hell hath no fury on a woman scorned'... unfortunately, he didn't know and opened his mouth anyways.

"For fuck's sakes, I _know_ what moping is- I do it on a daily basis," he said in an obvious tone.

The reaction was half-expected, half-unexpected. "Shut up," Kagome snapped, and he had a mental image of a cow having a hissy fit. It was usual in the fact that he remembered her throwing these all the time when they were younger, not in the fact that they barely even talk anymore nowadays. Now that he thought about it, though, they didn't really talk on account that almost all their conversations lasting longer than two minutes degenerated into abusive language and petty arguments every, single time. So it was surprising to realize that this was the first one to last _three_ minutes. And continuing!

Inuyasha's small observation was quickly overridden by her sudden mood change, as the blazing in her eyes quickly died down into a slightly hurt look. Interesting... she must have received some new medication this morning. Then- "You wouldn't understand." It was softly spoken, but the resentment did not go unnoticed by him, and he felt compelled to say something, anything.

"What? That you're having a tough time trying to decide on an emotion?"

Kagome threw him a scathing look and shifted her body away. You didn't live next to her for six years and _not_ learn the basics, and for him, she was clearly using her most overused body language that _practically_ emitted the phrase, _You jackass_. Well, it was fine and dandy with him, because he sure as hell didn't care for her personal opinion anyways. Inuyasha could just turn around and deftly avoid her bitchy attitude; for once in his life, _he_ was in the right, and _she_ was in the wrong, and he would be very much entitled to screaming profanities and telling her to beat it and get lost and go back to her house. It was _his_ baseball field, and it had been for the past two years or so, and there was no fuckin' way his happy-turned-emo neighbor was going to ruin his Baseball-Bible days. _So there_, he thought smugly.

Except, Inuyasha remembered how she had treated him in the last year or so, despite them hardly acknowledging the other's presence in school, and despite them bickering constantly as little kids, and despite her mother strictly forbidding any boys inside her room. She had gone out of her way to help him, although her disdain for him was about equivalent to her disdain for hippo turd. As of late, there hadn't been any arguing, and hence why he hadn't come lately, but the peace wasn't predictable, and it was always laced with tension and malice.

Then Inuyasha looked at her now, with her more than just put out and her lack of enthusiasm when it came to snappy, witty remarks (He wished she wasn't so witty, though.), and then he was suddenly _very_, _very_ angry because he didn't have the heart to tell her to piss off (again) when she was acting like that.

Damn him and his weakness for sympathy!

"Forget it," Inuyasha muttered, picking up two baseballs. "Just don't burst into random tears or anything." He hadn't told her about his discomfort with females crying, and it didn't look like he would tell her any time soon.

Kagome turned her head, slightly offended. "I won't," she said more as a challenge than as a statement. "If I wanted to sob, I would've done it somewhere else and not in front of you."

He rolled his eyes- the girl was a damn bomb waiting to explode any moment. How the hell was it possible to make an answer sound so insulting? Any form of empathy or understanding he had briefly felt back then had dissipated completely, and he was left with a feeling that the girl had somehow gypped him by means of pity. Or manipulated him, anyways. Now why couldn't he do the same thing a few minutes ago?

But it didn't matter, because he was giving her a freebie today, letting her stay and cry and absolutely ruin his concentration- he was nice like that. But next time… oh, if there _was_ a next time, he'd kick her sorry, little ass back to her house. First off, he wasn't _that_ nice, and secondly, he couldn't really afford to sacrifice any practice for more than a period of two days, unless he planned on becoming rusty. So just today... _just_ today.

With a determined nod, Inuyasha sealed his deal with a crack of a bat.

-

By the time Kagome crawled back into her room, it was dark, the moon hidden on the other side of the house. She had waited until Inuyasha had disappeared over the curve of the hill before sliding off the benches and starting for her own home at a much slower pace. It hadn't worked, much to her despair- granted, the field had given her a calmer mind, but her thoughts were just as jumbled and confused as before, and as she slipped underneath her covers, not bothering to change out of her dirty uniform, she realized that nothing had been sorted out at all. The feelings were still coarse and painful, and she still felt so juvenile for acting this way. But what else could she do? Let her mother go on with the affair? Let her mother go tromping around with some-some other guy? Let her mother bring home a man _while the day of Grandpa's funeral came up_?

Kagome would have continued on, but the collisions and thinking had worn her out, and the last thing she thought before falling asleep was how hard it had been to balance on top of the drain pipe.

-


	13. Chapter Twelve: Second Base

**A/N:** I was supposed to update in November, but then I didn't have time. And then someone pointed out that Kagome was a bit not herself, and that is so true, so I was like, "I'm going to tackle that issue in this chapter." And the result is mayhem. Seriously. This thing's 7000 words, baby – for your enjoyment, and because I was tired of Kagome whining, too. ;)

**Disclaimer:** (loff)

* * *

**Chapter 12: Second Base**

_Nghi

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_

She lay still in bed, straining to hear any sound outside of the bedroom. Kagome wasn't very graceful or lithe in her movements, but it didn't mean that the girl was a stomping elephant. The house had thin walls, but it wasn't permeable to every noise made, and not to mention the girl had become very acquainted with her home – meaning that she knew where every crack and creak on the steps and wooden floors were. The girl could slip out of the house at any moment without her knowledge, and Ayumi wasn't about to let that happen.

She sighed, her eyes closing and her head pounding. She was so, _so_ tired right now, and her eyes were dry and probably red, too. But she refused to drift off; she wouldn't let herself drift off since yesterday afternoon. Another image of Kagome's face came to her face, carving itself in front of her, and Ayumi felt like burrowing underneath her covers. Her breath shortened, and she swallowed heavily, trying to brush the quick feelings of frustration and humiliation and shame away. She had better things to do besides curling up in her bed – she grimaced – and crying out all of her troubles. Crying never solved anything, and she hadn't done so in over a year, since her father had died. So why should she start now?

Her weak resolve diminished, disappearing as quickly as it had been constructed, as she realized the answer to the question was only too obvious – maybe because her family was disintegrating and falling apart, maybe because she hadn't cried over a year and her tear ducts only needed a reason to exercise themselves, maybe because she was a bad mother and couldn't even take care of her children by herself, maybe because she had lost two of the most important people in her life in such a small span of time, maybe because she was about to lose another important person, too… what better reasons were there for crying?

_Just a little bit_, she thought, groaning as the hot tears leaked and slipped down her cheeks. Souta would wake up if she sobbed out loud and threw a big fit, so Ayumi bit her cheek instead, one hand covering her closed eyes as she trembled violently. It had never been her intention to destroy the resilient facet that characterized the woman, but she had a disgusting, sinking feeling that things wouldn't be all right for a while, not between her and Kagome for a long time.

Eventually the tears subsided into a few sniffles, and the sniffles subsided into nothing, and the nothing subsided into dry salt trails on her cheeks, and Ayumi finally removed her hand. She didn't want to go to work today, not when there was too much on her plate and she had finally broken down for the first time in over a year. And not to mention there was still the matter with Kagome, too. She closed her eyes and took in a deep, shuddering breath. _Calm down_, something said, and she recognized it as Rational's voice, the part of her who had dominated her for the past year. Rational was always there for her, always answering in simple logic, always trying to offer solutions in a placating manner. Rational was reliable, was didactic, was _everything_ she needed to pull herself together.

So Ayumi took its advice, taking in a few more breaths and putting the hysterical emotions to bed. Angst was the first to go, followed by Disgust and finally, with difficulty, Pessimism. At least for now, anyways. _You are strong. Life is always full of ups and downs – this just happens to be downhill_.

Rational sounded so reassuring and confident and overly optimistic, yet honest and truthful. Maybe Rational was right – _of course I'm right_, it scoffed – about the situation. Maybe she was blowing it out of proportion too much. Maybe she was just taking too much in all at once. Maybe it was the stress from work, or from the fact that Yamaguchi had found out in the worst possible way that the two had been carrying an affair behind her family's back. _Or what was left of it_, Pessimism rose to say before she could push it out of her mind. No, no – being angry would get nothing done! Ayumi tried to focus on Rational's words, on how life dipped in the most unexpected places. It sounded right….

_Of course I'm right_, Rational said again, _you're overwhelmed right now. You're an adult woman. You're more than capable of carrying on affairs of your own. The one-year anniversary of your father's death is coming up. _She choked a little bit at such a breezy statement, but Rational didn't notice. _Everyone becomes a little emotional. Everyone. You're not a superhero. You can't always be in control of your feelings._

"I know that," she said out loud desperately. Inside, she was saying the same thing to it, knowing fully well that she could only try her best at such a demanding role. "But what should I do now?" She closed her eyes, trying to calm her frazzled nerves again. Talking in circles, that was all it was –!

_Talk to Kagome. It is the only way to fix things._

Ayumi bit back a small scream. She _knew_ what to do with this situation in the beginning – she just wanted to know how-to know how—

_To get your life back?_

Yes, that too, but Rational was being completely irrational as of now, and she felt frustration corroding her collapsing front for the God-knows-how-many times. She must have looked absolutely disgusting and pathetic right now, because she certainly felt useless right now. The _one_ time when she needed Rational and its logic and its simple ways the most, it decided to grow Wit and Humor.

_Are you angry at me because I can't tell you what will happen?_ Ayumi halted, her uncoiling thoughts stopping midway. As if it was in front of her, she opened her mouth to answer no, as a matter of fact, I'm not angry that you can't predict anything and you're just a useless figment of my self-conscious. Then she closed her mouth, her lips pressed together in a tight line. _Or are you angry because I'm not saying what you want to hear?_

Rational waited for a response, and waited, and waited. Ayumi lay on her bed, her arms crossed and her eyes tracing the ceiling patterns sullenly. "You are useless," she finally spat out loud, glaring soundly at the chipped, white paint. "What good are you if you can't even guide me down the right path? Why give me all this rehearsed advice? You haven't helped me one bit at all!" She slammed one fist on the side of the bed angrily, as if it would show Rational how much it meant this time, how important this was.

Then in a small voice: "My family is breaking apart, can't you see?"

_The future is never guaranteed. Never._

"Then you were never any help."

Rational did not answer, because just then a muffled clatter came from downstairs, and without a second thought or a second opinion, Ayumi had rolled off her bed and swung the door open and was already scrambling down the stairs. In the back of her mind, she must have known how ridiculous she looked, with her frizzy hair out of place and her tripping and stumbling – she really needed to use the shoe rack more often – down the stairs with the worn-out, green bathrobe whipping around her legs like a parody of a superhero who had forgotten to put on his mask.

"Kagome!"

She lost her footing on the last step and fell backwards, hitting the carpeted stairs with a dull thud painfully. Her hand gripped at the railing, and she ended up half-sprawled at the bottom of the stairs. "Kagome!" she cried out, forgetting that her leg was throbbing and her heart was thumping and her hand was numb and her face was all one big blur of emotions – she couldn't tell what kind of face she was wearing. She didn't have a mirror in front of her.

The green skirt paused at the doorway, a moment's hesitation, and the woman didn't waste any time to jump at the chance, at the chance to _do_ anything to make things right between them again.

"How… how are you?"

There was another awfully long pause, and she saw the slender fingers – _her_ slender fingers – grip around the doorknob a little tighter, and she knew it wasn't a good sign. It was never a good sign when Kagome tensed like that. _Keep ca—_ Rational was cast aside before it finished its sentence, and she chose to panic instead. "Don't go!" she cried aloud, and to her relief, the door barely moved. _Maybe-!_

"I know," Ayumi began slowly, trying to tread as carefully as she could. "I know… you must be confused, right?" Kagome didn't say anything, and she took it as a good sign to continue. "And I know that you don't want to talk to me right now."

It was still silent.

"But I think-I think we _need_ to. We need to fix this bad blood between us. We need to, soon." The girl had been silent the entire time, and a small jewel of hope began to glitter at the bottom of the cave. "We could start… with Grandpa, if you want." The door opened a bit. "Then we could talk about Souta. Souta is very important." She could see Kagome's unruly, black hair now, uncombed and equally as frizzy as hers.

"And we can talk about Yamaguchi and me."

It was the wrong, _wrong_ thing to say, and she watched the dirt smother the jewel as the door swung forward sharply. "No, no, no, you've got it wrong," she rushed, and all the while she felt the stones of hopelessness pile at the bottom of her stomach, making her heavy and slow to react. "_I love him, that's why_!"

The door slammed shut in her face.

-

She couldn't think for the rest of the day.

_Who could?_ She thought bitterly in math period, her head hunched over her desk in a look of pure, fake concentration. The teacher announced something about lines and formulas, but they were all lost, all absorbed into the silent cacophony inside her head. What an oxymoronic expression that was – it wasn't thrumming like yesterday, thank God, but her mind was just restless, just turning things over and over and completely exacerbating things.

Kagome stared hard at the blue lines on the blank sheet of paper, as if some pencil marks were going to magically appear out of nowhere and spell out an answer, spell out the solution to the muddled troubles and everything. Maybe if she burned holes through the paper, it will give her a key, a hint to getting out of this.

But as it stood, there was no such thing as magic, and there was certainly no such thing as a spontaneous solution or even spontaneous combustion, as the paper did not explode into flames underneath her fiery gaze, and no pen or pencil carving out anything on the blank lines.

There was no pre-set anything right now, and she wanted to punch karma for putting her through this. She almost had her this morning, almost. Wasn't it so funny how convincing her mother's words sounded that morning? _She sounded very sincere,_ Kagome thought dryly, and she bit the insides of her cheeks.

It was almost hypnotizing and syrupy, the deceptively honey words coming out of her mother's mouth. _Oh, I think we should talk about our family, oh I think we should talk about Grandpa, oh, I think we should talk about Souta – it was all building up so she could just talk about that Yamaguchi guy!_ Kagome fumed quietly, her eyebrows drawing angrily. Her mother's words echoed inside her head annoyingly (_Yamaguchi and me; Yamaguchi and me; Yamaguchi and…._).

What about her? What about the effect on everyone else? 'Yamaguchi and me' sounded so-so _exclusive_! Her mother almost had her, _almost_ – she sounded so understanding of Kagome's feeling. Yes, she was confused, yes, she was lonely, yes, she didn't want to talk to her at all. If only Ayumi hadn't mentioned his name-! But she had, and she had to go and ruin everything by going into that territory. Her stomach had frozen up, and her shoulders tensed and her grip tightened, and she slammed the door without waiting for her mother to finish the sentence.

But she wasn't fast enough – she wasn't quick enough to block out those devastating words, and the reply came back in a haunting reverberation. _She loves him?_ She thought incredulously; it wasn't the first time she had acted in such a surprised way. The first time she turned it over in her head on her way to school, she had stumbled into the classroom in a daze; the seventh time when she had turned it over in her head on her way to science class, she had sat down in her seat with shock; the eighteenth time she had turned it over in her head during lunchtime, her friends' words went in and out of one ear neatly; the twenty-eighth time she had turned it over in her head on her way to math class, she was somewhere in the mind-numbing state of half-shock and half-anger.

No matter what kind of sub-feelings she could acquire along the way, there was always some degree of uneasy amazement, like a frozen jolt embedded somewhere in her chest, making it hard for her to breathe for the rest of the day. Her mother had tried to put a limb out for her, and it was a start… no, it _had_ been a start, before-before everything fell to pieces.

A folded piece of paper suddenly appeared in her line of view, and it took her a few moments to recognize the scraggly kanji as her name. Her head snapped up, and Kagome looked behind her to find Eri nodding expectantly. "Open it," she mouthed quietly, her eyes glancing briefly at the math teacher.

Turning back into her seat, Kagome did as she was told obediently; Eri rarely passed notes in class. She liked to learn, or something close to that, so there was hardly ever a reason for her to participate in gossiping in the middle of calculus. Not to mention that if she needed help, there was always the ever-nerdy Tamakawa sitting beside her. Kagome never had any luck in math in the past, and from the way this class was looking, there wouldn't be any future for her in that area, either.

"_You look really out of it. What's wrong?"_

The note was simple, only two sentences long, but it hit her with a force of a brick. Her friends could _tell_ that something was wrong? (A little part of her mind scoffed at her astonishment. _You didn't really try to keep a normal façade, you know_, it reminded.) It felt… nice to know that some people cared, and even though she was still as confused as yesterday, and she was still as numb as this morning, Kagome smiled through the haziness and picked up her pencil.

Eri was smart… maybe she would know what to do when everything else seemed to fail.

As soon as the teacher turned around to scrawl another formula on the board, Kagome threw the paper back to her friend, who had been leaning sideways to read Tamakawa's handwriting. Eri looked down to see the folded note on her desk, and she smiled, forgetting all about him.

Kagome settled a little more comfortably in her chair, feeling slightly relaxed. This was good – maybe it was time she invested a little more faith in her friends. After all, were they not called 'friends' for a reason? It wasn't like she hated them and only hung out with them because of lack of anything else to do. They really were her friends, her good-natured, good-humored, good all-around friends. But that was all they were, too good overall. Having boy problems and hair problems and skin problems and other trivial problems were fine and dandy, but that was all they would ever be: trivial. Her friends were by no means shallow, – _OK, maybe Yuka_, she conceded – but if the single, greatest setback they had ever known or had was a bad haircut, how could she ever _talk_ to them about anything that spawned past inconsequential troubles?

But wouldn't it be nice if she could talk to them about the bigger pictures, rather than the small details? The paper bounced off her arm and landed neatly on top of her desk, and Kagome snatched it up, greedily opening it for the rejoinder. This was clearly a sign from some higher immortal being, a proclamation that it was time she invested in a little more than petty faith in the people around her (The people in school, she corrected herself warily.) and to—

_"Aw, I'm sorry you're having problems. It's about Hojo, isn't it."_

Her heart sank when she read Eri's response, and just to make sure she was seeing right, she closed her eyes and opened them again to find that yes, her friend had written it. She hadn't ask what _kind_ of problem, just plunged right in with a blind assumption that it was always about boys, boys, boys, and that it was automatically about Hojo; it wasn't even a question, that second part, just a false, prophetic statement that aimed too far and fell too short. Her vision clouded for a moment, as she read her friend's answer over and over, and she couldn't stop herself from whispering the one word that had always been attached to her friends, no matter what kind of best intentions they had intended, or what kind of well-meaning they had meant, or what kind of thoughts they had thought.

_Trivial_.

-

"So sorry, loves," the baseball coach had announced when everyone had arrived at the field. "But today's been cancelled, too."

"What?" one of the girls had voiced aloud. "What happened?"

"Oh yeah, about that," the coach had begun, sighing a little bit. "It turns out that the teachers actually have quite the strong feelings towards budget issues. The history department wanted some new books, as theirs were terribly outdated, and the finance teachers wanted new computers. Then there's the sports department – that's my husband and me, by the way -, and we wanted some new field equipment." The coach shook her head sadly. "Overall, it's positively one of the biggest debates we've had since the year seventy-nine and the carpeting issue over in the foreign language area."

"But there's a game this Saturday-!"

"I know, and I'm terribly sorry, loves," the woman had said, her hands clasped together apologetically and her words laced with an English accent. "We'll make it up as soon as possible. But for now, there won't be any practice until further announcements."

And that was how she found herself at the baseball field again. As soon as the coach had announced a hiatus in baseball practice, she had been the first to turn around and walk away amidst the frustrated murmurs. After school never made her feel any more comfortable than 'during school' or 'before school', and she didn't want to go home, either.

Kagome thought about meeting Souta at the soccer field, but he was old enough, and he was beginning to become aware of just how cool it was to have an older sister hanging around him while he was showing off to his friends the extent of his soccer skills. There was nowhere else to go, except the old field.

Throwing her bags onto the bench, she climbed up to the middle bleacher, sprawling herself across it. Her head hung back, and for a moment Kagome watched the clouds passing by above her, the faint wisps moving quickly and slowly at the same time (She was just an oxymoron lately, wasn't she?), and the warm, oncoming summer breeze hitting her face gently as the grass swayed side to side atop the hills.

It was unsettling, despite the nice atmosphere.

The note earlier today had become obsolete – she had picked up her pencil and scrawled down a message that apparently satisfied Eri (_It shouldn't have._), and that was the end of that. She forgot what she wrote down, despite math class having ended only twenty minutes ago; no doubt it was along the lines of "Yeah, boy troubles", or "You said it", or most likely "Rough day. But I'm fine". Kagome was disappointed that the girl had made such a gross assumption, and even more when she left it at that. Why couldn't her friends be nosier in the right places? Prod a little further at the right time? Worry more when she wasn't acting like herself? Her vision clouded again, this time the sky mixing with the green shadows of the trees instead of the paper with her hand, and she closed her eyes, taking in deep, shallow breaths.

Was this some test, some ridiculously hard test that she had to pass in order to advance onto some next stage of her life? Was it like a game to karma or something, a button it pushes to see how far she could reach her limit? Because she was teetering on a cliff and swaying back and forth, half-wanting to fall off and half-wanting to stay—

"What the hell?"

Kagome opened her eyes to find Inuyasha looking at her, and not very happily either. "What the hell?" he said again, as if it was the only thing he was capable of saying, and she gave an ugly, sarcastic smile. "Nice to see you, too."

"Why are you here?" he demanded, ignoring her jab. His duffel bag hung over his shoulders as always, but he made no move to throw it towards one corner.

"It's not exclusive," she sniffed, looking away. Then, as an added thought, "And if you're so bent out of shape about it, baseball practice was cancelled again."

"I know. Why do you think I'm here?" Inuyasha always had this ability to twist everything, even the simplest and most neutral statements, into a demeaning, rhetorical question. It had always annoyed her way back, and it didn't fail to annoy her even now. "But the question is, why are _you_ here?"

She sent him another dirty look. "Like I said before, it's not exclusive."

He stared at her for another minute or so, scrutinizing her body language (Did he mention that the damn woman could have an entire book devoted to her body expressions alone?) as she did the same, except not quite scrutinizing and not quite defiant and not quite as up to the challenge. She was not up to par with her usual fiery temper, as was yesterday, and he found it a little bit suspicious. Kagome was not the type to beat down and stay down – she was annoyingly resilient and perky, the opposite of him.

After a while, he turned his head away and dropped the bag by his feet. "Get out," he said, not very kindly and very much rudely.

Kagome scoffed loudly enough for him to hear. "Make me," she retorted, her eyes glaring. It made her feel slightly better to know that at the very least her friends were more _considerate_ than this bag of dirt. How dare he say something so coarse to her! She didn't need this, especially not now, and that cliff was just ready to swallow her about now.

Inuyasha pivoted on his heels to lock horns with her. "_Don't_ antagonize me," he growled. "It's bad enough that I have a game on Friday, and I'm stuck practicing by myself, and hell if you think you're going to sit on those benches _again_ and mope and whine about whatever the hell it is." It was a harsh invective, and it made her all the more furious.

"I'm not moping, first of all, and you don't have to be so rude to me!" she spat back. "You're so paranoid, you know that? All I do is sit on the bench and mind my own business. I'm not even trying to edge onto the field that you're so obsessed about!"

"The bench _is_ part of the field, so really, you're _on_ it!"

"That is the most _ridiculous_ logic I've ever heard!"

"And I don't care, because you get out _now_."

How was it possible that such a brusque, uncaring person existed? And lives within fifteen feet of her, too? Kagome took in a deep breath and closed her eyes to stop herself from answering. Inuyasha was only riling her up, and he was cheerfully succeeding, too. He was carrying her at his pace, and she didn't want to go there, especially when she was feeling unstable.

But closing her eyes didn't make him go away, and she heard him say callously, "Why don't you go and save us both the trouble of seeing each other's faces by hanging out with your friends or your mom or someone else you actually like."

Maybe it was his wording, or maybe it was the way no one seemed to give a damn about her problems, or maybe it was his skewered view labeling her in the same category as her friends, but either way, the words spilled out of his mouth with no intentions of hurting and ended up with the force of a bulldozer ready to crush her.

His sentence took away her breath in its ironic and ignorant glory, and Inuyasha _knew_ something was wrong when he saw her eyes suddenly closed up and her mouth not opening to inveigh against him and her hands tremulously crushing the green fabric that was her skirt. One of the rarer voices in his head – Acute Perception or something like that – made an appearance before disappearing just as quickly, but it was all Inuyasha needed, that one moment for the alarm bells to start ringing and telling him that something was gravely different about her from yesterday.

A jarring discovery? Why, yes it was, actually.

"You don't decide where I go and what I do, and if I want to stay here, I _will_, whether you throw a temper tantrum or not," she bit out steely.

"How about I pull you out of the fuckin' field myself?" he snapped wittily.

Or that was how it was _supposed_ to be, and maybe Inuyasha would have really said it, if he hadn't seen that brief look on her face. Because the truth was, it made him uncomfortable… _really_ uncomfortable in that oh-my-God-you're-about-to-cry kind of way. And it was just the icing on the cake when guilt sank its claws into him, making him all the more susceptible to bend over backwards (_I don't bend like that!_ he thought irritatingly) and let her get her way.

But not today, _not_ when there was an important game coming up, and he needed all the practice he could get. It didn't matter if Hojo – and he only remembered the name because the kid was on the baseball team – broke up with her, and she was feeling lost and heartbroken, and it didn't matter if the situation was on the other side of the spectrum, and she was pregnant with the guy's baby. The point was that she was distracting him, and he needed to practice his swings and his throws and his sliding and his running and _everything_. With no baseball practice at school, he needed to work twice as hard, and absolutely nothing could be accomplished if Kagome was going to drill holes into his head about her broken social life, her broken dream, her broken whatever it was.

And just when he gathered up the confidence to really say what he wanted to say ("Why don't you haul your ass out of here and pull the emo shit somewhere else?"), the image of her clenched fingers around the hem of her skirt and her mouth puckering just a little bit and was it his imagination or had her eyes watered then, too? Tears or no tears, guilt was practically_ clawing_ off his arm and making him feel _utterly_ terrible. It wasn't like he gave a damn about other people's feelings, because he really didn't; it was the thought of crying that terrified him, and even if he wasn't there to see it, his mind would still replay it, or try to imagine it, and then he'd never get any practice for sure.

So for the sake of his conscience and his conscious and his focus, Inuyasha gave a little huff and snatched the bat lying by his feet without a word. He was very much aware that she was watching him, and he wondered if she was secretly gloating, because it wouldn't surprise him. It made him all the more furious that she got her way. Again. _If I fuckin' catch you here tomorrow—_

He threw a ball into the air and swung the bat. Like last time, the baseball flew towards the fence, colliding fiercely against the wiring before dropping to the ground with a dull thud.

He really meant it this time.

-

Inuyasha exploded.

The prolonged meeting was causing quite a controversy, and for the third time baseball practice was cancelled. It pissed him off that no one else on the team was practicing for Friday's game, and so he had hauled all of his ten-fuckin'-pound equipment _plus_ his backpack to the baseball field in a bad mood, and what did he find?

None other than Kagome sprawled across the damn middle bench with her damn eyes looking melancholy and her life looking so ridiculously damn pathetic.

"_That's it_!" he snarled angrily, stomping down the hill and flinging his equipment and backpack to the side without a care in the world. In a few strides he was beside her, his own hand enclosed over her wrist, and he gave a hearty yank that sent her tumbling off the bleacher.

"What the-!"

"_You. Field. Out._" He said simply, _directly_, and her eyes widened.

"Wha-"

"No, _no_!" Inuyasha interrupted her savagely, his eyes glittering. "Two days. I gave you _two_ days to get your shit together so you can beat the hell out of here. I gave you _two_ days for you to stop moping and whining about how sad you are, and don't you fuckin' tell me it's not moping because I practically embody moping! And what do you do? Not only do you do nothing and waste your time, but you're also wasting _mine_!" he seethed angrily. "You were supposed to fix whatever the hell it is that's bothering you so I can go back to practicing like normal, but all you like to do is sigh and cry-"

"I _never_ did-"

"Oh, you never did, eh? Well, boo-hoo!" Inuyasha snapped. "No one likes a whiny, little kid, and you're just taking this too far. It's the _third_ day already, and I am _not_ going to let you stay here and ruin my concentration, so you had well better _get up_ and _go do something about it_." He finished, his free hand curled into a fist and his shoulders tense and his breathing heavy. In essence, he looked like he was ready to kick the crap out of her.

Kagome looked up at him from the floor, her legs splayed out from beneath her – she was still stunned that he had pulled her three feet off the ground. "Don't you play 'Retard' with me!" he all but snapped, roughly jostling her arm and forcing her to her feet. "Fix your fuckin' problem, or _go home_!"

The word 'home' had its effect, and she snapped out of her stupor just in time to realize that Inuyasha had already started dragging her towards the green hills. "Hey!" Kagome exclaimed, pulling her arm out of his grip. She stumbled backwards slightly but maintained her balance. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" She sent him a nasty look for an effect.

"What am _I_ doing?" he said incredulously, turning around. "Whaddaya mean, what the hell _I'm_ doing? I'm kicking you out of my field so I can concentrate again!"

"Excuse me? This isn't your field-"

"Hm, I think you had trouble hearing me back there," he cut her off, his face mocking pleasantness and oozing sarcasm. "Let me say it again: get out." And with that, Inuyasha reached out and grabbed her arm, intending to drag her as far away as possible from his haven.

Of course, Kagome resisted and chose to dig her heels into the grass. "Shit!" she swore as her foot hit a pebble, but it didn't stop her from trying to pull her arm away from his grasp. To her surprise, she found that she couldn't. "Why don't you fuck off instead?"

"Maybe I will once you fix whatever crawled up your ass."

"Why the hell do you care, anyways? Why don't your just mind your own business like always?"

"**_Because I can't_**!" Inuyasha all but roared. He turned around, facing her with a furious expression.

…_What?_ Her mind raced at the implications of what he had just said, and why he had said it. _Did that mean – does he – all the—_ There were too many, and her head suddenly felt a few pounds too light and airy, and she must have looked the way her insides were jumping around, because Inuyasha opened his mouth again. "Do you know how much your mood is affecting my game play?" he growled in a venomous tone, and she saw that he was really, _really_ pissed. He leaned in closer, the veins in his neck standing out, and for the first time in three days, Kagome felt something besides confusion. "You come here _while there's no baseball practice_ at school, and all you do is _sulk_."

_Oh, so it's about his precious baseball session_, she thought, and her mouth pulled into a scowl. "So it's all about you, huh?" she asked daringly, her chin jutted out. "How self-absorbed can you get? You're _always_ thinking about yourself, and not enough about others."

Inuyasha choked. Incredible…! "Wow," he said, but he didn't mean it. "You _really_ know how to play the card right, don't you? Hello, was there _any_ form of thought process going on since Monday?"

"You're not the only one who has the right to feel less than happy sometimes, you know," she sneered.

"Well, at least I don't try to get attention," he sneered right back. "Did you ever _think_ about the effect you're having on other people? You're sad and depressed. OK, the whole world fuckin' gets it." He dropped her hand as if it burned him, but it was really his eyes that were the ones smoldering. "But do you do anything about it? No! You just sit there and let the damn thing get out of hand. And meanwhile, some people are trying to go on with their lives and do their own things, and you're just really setting the mood for us to do that, aren't you?"

His words were hurtful, and she said nothing, only biting her lips and furrowing her eyebrows and refusing to look at him. She knew he was more than capable of hurting people's feelings, but this… this just went above and beyond the requirements. Something hitched at her throat, and her eyes began to cloud, meshing the grass and colors together again.

Inuyasha smiled pitilessly. "Who's the one thinking about himself now? Why don't you think about that first before you come crawling back here." And before she could answer, he had passed her coldly and was already at the base plate.

Her eyes stung, and her cheeks itched hotly, so much that she scratched at her neck several times. Her nails raked long, red lines, but that wasn't what made her wince – it was his words. Kagome was never one to lie to herself, and Inuyasha was never one who lied when it came to baseball. _So-so what does it mean?_

That she had just been a whining shell of herself the past few days? That she _wanted_ to savor the negativity and the bitterness? That she wanted to feel shock and hurt and anger when she knew her mother might have found love again? That she wanted to keep bothering him at his practice time? That she wanted to pretend she was all right in front of her friends? That she wanted her life to fuck up in a matter of a few minutes?

"You're _wrong_," Kagome said, her voice cracking, and she saw Inuyasha stop and sigh with more than a touch of aggravation. He turned around, his eyes glowering and his mouth twisted. But whatever it was that was going to come out of his mouth died as he saw the first tear drip down her face.

"You-You say I only think about myself," Kagome started, her hands shaking by her sides as she valiantly fought the tears that wanted to come for _so_ long. "You say that—" her hand wiped the tears away roughly. "But you don't mean it."

The sob escaped from her fierce clutch, and she bit her lip to calm herself down. Her fingernails dug into her palms, and she shook her head roughly, trying to clear the calamity that was howling again. "You wouldn't, not if you found your mom in bed with another man—"

_(In that moment, Kagome was positively blown out of the water; never had she expected this. The impact of seeing her mother and some man was a hit to the stomach, and she felt a cold wave of... of something rapidly approaching before reaching out and crashing on top of her, blanketing and smothering her... her what? Her emotions? Her thoughts? Her breath? Her life?)_

"—or-or if she told you that she loved him back—"

_(And I love him and I love him and I love him **and I love him so much**—)_

"—and all she did was work and let her family f-fall apart—"

_(But with all the extra jobs running around, the woman almost had no time for her family. They weren't even one anymore, anyways. Everyone was off doing their own thing, with Souta meeting friends everyday and her going to school and baseball practice and their mom slaving over everyone else just to make ends more than just meet. She always insisted in providing the best for her children, and ideally, it was a very good cause. But that didn't mean she could just run off and leave her family in shatters; it was downright selfish to expect Kagome to piece them back together while Ayumi dozed the rest of her life away.)_

"—and not even a goddamn _year_ has passed since your grandfather died!" she screamed the last part out, and she bowled over, her fingers gripping and digging into her scalp as she tried to block out the echoes marching around and screaming deafeningly.

_(The machines around him and the pasty, white skin and the blue-tinged lips and the failing heart monitor and the damned doctors who didn't save him and Grandpa's soft, warm hands and his cold, wrinkled skin and his life sucking away—)_

She was coughing and crying and kneeling on the grass now, the breakdown shaking and rattling and knocking her windpipes and making her gasp and heave as the tears dripped and dropped to the ground in a rhythmic, one-two one-two fashion. It had to happen, it was _bound_ to happen. Too much at once, and Kagome couldn't feel ashamed for breaking down in front of him because the layers of tough skin had peeled away and she was too raw right now and because _he was the only one who had given a damn_.

And as she was crying on the ground, her hands covering her wet face, Inuyasha was standing a few feet away from her, very much rooted to the spot and very much effectively panicking. _Fuck fuck fuck fuck—_ He tried to think of some way to make the horrible crying stop, but he couldn't think of anything other than to stand there while the Girl Who Was Supposed to Be Strong and Tough broke down into little pieces.

It was so uncomfortable, those five, grueling minutes, and then all of a sudden, the tidal wave began to pull back, the catastrophe ebbing away slowly, and Inuyasha used that chance to stop her from starting again. "You're right," he said, careful to not sound angry or aggravated or sympathetic or anything. Neutral was the best way to go, in his opinion. "I don't understand how you feel."

She grimaced from behind her palms.

"That still doesn't mean you should let it eat you," Inuyasha continued warily, turning around and heading for the field once more. "But… don't you think it would solve everyone's problem if you said all this to your mom?" He sounded cool and under control… good. Best not let Kagome know that she had made him nervous and alarmed, or else nothing good would come out of it.

She inhaled sharply, sounding suspiciously unstable, and Inuyasha tensed up. _OK, calm down, buddy. You can do this. If she does cry, just wait it out a little more, and then you can say the same—_

"She wouldn't understand," Kagome interrupted his thoughts, and he almost died of relief. _Thank God she's not a crybaby._ "She said she did, but it was only to talk about Yamaguchi." She wasn't too careful to hide the disgust in her tone.

"Well, it's your choice," he called out, walking away from her scraped knees and tearstained face. "If you want to cry and do this all over again."

_If you make me go through another one of those again, Higurashi, I swear to God-!_

-


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Second Base

**A/N:** Um. School, internship, and community service leave little room for sleep and writing. And oh, I've been working on a few new projects, mainly a new one-shot and story. (Tentatively called _Psychotic_. Don't you just love the title?) Please don't leave me!

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha will not be mine. Ever.

* * *

**Chapter 13: Second Base**

_Nghi_

* * *

The wind was blowing to the east, the trees shaking a little. The house loomed overhead, casting a dark shadow across the black driveway. The old minivan was parked so very near the red, chipped porch, which was connected to the chipped, white door. 

For what it was worth, Kagome had never met such an intimidating house in her life.

She took her time crawling back up the hill, her hands dirtied from the smeared soil and her kneecaps still stinging from the ground. Her hair blew about her wildly, and she wasn't too keen about her smell. But it didn't matter—none of it mattered at all, not the cuts on her legs or the ache in her ribcage or the dry cracks in her lips. Physical pain was nothing compared to the feeling welling in the pit of her stomach, which could only be best described as cold, plain dread.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Her mother was probably God knows where by now. Or maybe Kagome really _did_ know where the woman was—lying in her bed with a box of tissues and crying herself away.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Her breath came out in short staccatos, her mouth set in a grim line, and her eyes focusing on the prize: the back door. She would enter through the kitchen resolutely and march upstairs to wherever her mother was sprawled, and-and—

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

What _would_ she do? Kagome's pace faltered a bit as the house closed the distance between them rapidly. Meeting her mother face-to-face was one thing, but… talking? As in sitting down and having a woman-to-woman oral contact? As in shedding light on one another's feelings? As in hashing out the past few days' events?

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

The house was there now, and she stood in front of the door. All she had to do was lift her hand and grab the doorknob. It was a simple, two-second thing that even a three year old could do, but she found herself frozen midway, her hands outstretched for the handle.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Kagome was afraid again. It was just like before her breakdown, where she felt the heavy pressure and confusion wrapping itself around her ribcage and throat and squeezing too hard. The air was gone from her lungs and her legs were suddenly cold and numb. She felt she had come so far from the baseball field, leaving Inuyasha to himself and his baseballs as she collected herself along the way, and now she was dashed to pieces, her confidence blown apart all because of cold feet.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

She took in a deep, shaky breath and closed her eyes. "Breathe," she said to no one in particular. "You can do this." If she could endure her father's death so many years ago, if she could deal with the grief of a lost pet, then she could do anything. She hadn't gained tough skin for nothing; she had earned it, that resilient nature of hers to bounce back. This _shouldn't_ be any different.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Her hand reached up for the doorknob again, and she was just about to touch the cool metal when the door flew open by itself—

And there stood Souta, his school shirt halfway buttoned. "Oh, thank God you're here."

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Her eyebrows furrowed, and her mouth opened to ask, but nothing flew out. "Well, what are you doing standing there? Get in already." Before Kagome could say anything, Souta had reached over and pulled her into the kitchen. She stood there in a slight comatose state as he turned around again. "Jeez, you have to—crap, you look like a mess." He had interrupted himself after taking a good look at her fashion statement. "What happened to _you_?"

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Somehow, Kagome found her voice this time. "I—it doesn't matter." She ignored his apathetic shrug, but still tucked a knotted strand of hair behind her ear. "Anyways, what happened?"

Souta frowned, visibly sobering. "Something's wrong with Mom."

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Her mouth dropped open, and for a moment a million different scenarios ran through her head, each of them different but equally horrible. Did she fall down and hurt herself? Did Ayumi have another asthma attack after she ran out of the house? Did she trip over the bathroom rug and hit her head against the edge of the bathtub? Did she stumble over her own feet and fall down the stairs?

In that moment so many 'Did-she's ran through Kagome's mind, and she swiveled immediately on her feet, intent on racing up the stairs and bursting through her mother's bedroom to see if she was all right and not hurt at all. "Oh God, what if—?"

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

"Wait!" Souta called, grabbing her sleeves. "Don't go up there!"

"Let go of me!" Kagome snapped, shaking her right arm to throw him off. "Why are you getting dressed for school at a time like this? Did you even bother to call the hospital before you decided to find some cereal? Jeez, you're so—"

"Calm down!" he retorted back, still hanging onto her elbow like a rag doll.

"How can I calm down when Mom might be hurt? _Don't you care about her_?"

"Of course I do!" he yelled hotly, his eyes smoldering. "But I'm not the one going bonkers over a small case of crying, am I?"

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

Her arm stopped flailing and fell towards her side with a small thump as she shifted away from the doorframe. "…What?"

Souta released her arm and stepped back, his mouth pursed and his eyes not quite meeting hers. "Something's wrong with Mom," he repeated again. "But it's not what you think it is. It's a different thing."

He didn't get to say anything else as a muffled sob echoed from upstairs, and then coughing. It died down some time later, and Souta looked up at her with such a pitiable expression. "She's been like this all morning, ever since I found her crumpled on the living room floor," he said sadly.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

A wave of guilt tumbled down on her, for dragging Souta into this mess unknowingly. He didn't deserve to be pulled into the middle of this rift—he didn't deserve to experience any of this, and he _shouldn't_, either. Kagome thought of him coaxing his mother to move into the bedroom, helping her get into bed. And then she thought of him standing here helplessly as their mother curled into her pillow and told him through hiccups to get ready for school.

He didn't deserve any of it.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

"What are we going to do?" Souta asked, peering up at his sister anxiously. "I mean, we can't just leave her here…."

"_I'm_ going to fix this, and _you_ are going to go to school, just as planned," she answered resolutely.

"But I just can't—"

"Oh, yes you can, and you will. Unless you want Mom to find out about last semester's grades, that is."

Souta frowned. "I don't want to leave you here all by yourself. She's my mom, too, you know."

"I didn't say she wasn't. But I have to fix it myself—I know I can do it." She saw he opened his mouth to protest. "I'm the only one that can."

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

He looked up at her, and she responded with a firm stare. After a moment, he let his eyes slide back down again. "Fine. But I don't have time to eat breakfast, since I'm late already." He pulled on a pair of sneakers and grabbed his bag by the doorway. "Good luck, Kagome."

The door shut with a soft click, and she still stood there. She could see his fuzzy form through the curtained window, and too soon enough, he was out of sight. Then all that was left was the crying, echoing throughout the hush of the house.

She took a deep breath and stepped towards the staircase.

_"Don't you think it would solve everyone's problems if you said all this to your mom?"_

-

He was slouching on the bench again.

Granted, if Kaoru found him sitting like this, she'd be on his back faster than a squirrel on a nut. Then she'd tell him how improper it was for a young man to sit like that. Well, that was how the usual case was, anyways, before all the fighting started happening.

Now, he was just lucky if she told him to change his underwear. (Which he does without much prompting.)

_I guess it can't be helped that she's too busy preoccupied with Dad's frequent business trips_, he thought unconcernedly. On one hand, dearest Daddy barely stays home for more than two or three days at a time, what with all the meetings and frequent arrangements with top scouts and everything. But on the other hand, he saw the potential in his son, and he knew that little Inuyasha could make it… with the right connections. So all that traveling and mingling with people would pay off one day, because a big league scout might just appear any day now at one of the games.

With such conflicting sides, he preferred to stay out of it completely. The argument could swing in either's favor, and if he so much as butted his head in one of the fights, there was no doubt that his folks would immediately make him choose sides. "Who do you think is right?" they would incessantly demand, and Inuyasha just could _not_ handle that right now, not when there are scouts on the loose.

_What, risk my game because I'm having a little bit of family trouble?_ He scoffed. _That's pathetic. If I'm gonna fail at life, it'd damn well better be a better reason than that._

There was a quiet shuffling behind him, and Inuyasha cracked open one eye. He hoped to God it was a passerby, and that he or she would just be meeting for some friends and that it was _not_ who he thinks it was.

Miroku's head popped into view, hovering a pleasant five inches above him. "Hello, dear friend!" he exclaimed placidly with a cheerful wave.

"Fuck—not so close!" Inuyasha all but shoved the captain aside and scrambled towards the far end of the bench, looking very red and very displeased.

"Is there something wrong?" Miroku tilted his head with an air of innocence, and it was all Inuyasha could do to not gag at such a pure sight.

"Hell yeah, there's something wrong. Haven't you heard of personal space?" he spat, glaring at the man.

"Was I… _touching_ you?"

"No, but you definitely disrespected my personal bubble."

Miroku laughed, settling himself onto the bench. "Inuyasha, if I ever respect your wishes, I would never be within a five foot radius of you."

…Well, that was certainly true, wasn't it? He wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, as the captain was quite capable of being witty and smart and all that other crap, so Inuyasha settled for a glare. It was an effective trick and often racked up enough merit to scare away any potential visitors. "Didn't I tell you to talk to me whenever it's urgent?"

"Well, yes, and it is rather urgent, actually." Miroku sat up a little straighter, looking very formal—something he had never seen before.

"Yeah?" Inuyasha unconsciously sat up a little straighter, too. "What happened?" Shit, this was something serious…! From the way the captain was sitting a little too stiffly for comfort, and the way his hands were curled in his laps, and how his eyes looked straight ahead into the horizon and _not_ establishing the normal eye contact….

If it was serious enough to earn Miroku's sobriety, then it was probably serious enough to earn anyone's attention.

"Well…"

Inuyasha leaned forward slightly, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"Kawaguchi is having a party Friday night, and he wants to know if you're coming. It's guests-only, you know," Miroku added cheerfully.

The hell? 

"_That's_ the important news?" Boy, if looks could kill, Miroku would be a shish kabob broiling by now. "You came all this way to bother me about something like _that_?"

The captain looked a little hurt. "Well, it certainly isn't bothering. If you're not a guest, then you can't really come, now can you?"

He took in a deep breath, not because it was a sunny and beautiful day, but because he was trying so hard to not snap and wring that boy's neck. "I think we've gone over this conversation at least a hundred times now."

"That you're not a people person?"

"Right."

"And you hate being in crowds?"

"Right."

"And that if you had a choice, you would rather spend a whole week living with that neighbor of yours rather than socialize with people?"

"No."

"Good! Then it's settled!" Miroku stood up and dusted his hands off his pants, as if he had just completely a particularly tiring task. "We'll see you on Friday night, then!"

"Wha-? Waitaminnit!" Inuyasha jerked from his seat. What had transpired a few moments ago? What was going on? When did this—?

It was too late to call back the captain, as he was already jogging out of the field already. Inuyasha glared at his back just for good measure before settling back onto the bench again. This time he wasn't so nonchalant and cool; he was boiling angry. How dare the stupid idiot think he can just command him to appear at some dumb party?

_Hell no I ain't going_, he thought decidedly with a smirk. _Fuckin' bastard's gonna have to drag me kickin' and screamin', and that's that._

-


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Second Base

**A/N:** I just wanted to let everyone know that I appreciate any readers out there. Actually, I get a bigger kick watching the hit counter go up. Ahahaha! I know I don't do reply reviews and such, but just know that every one of them makes me smile a lot. (What? I can't do Appreciate Reviewers Day?) /OOCness

**Disclaimer:** Own? I don't even know what's happening in the canon world anymore. --

* * *

**Chapter 14**

_Nghi_

* * *

Today just wasn't a good day for him at all. 

First he had slipped on a puddle in the driveway and fell face forward onto the muddy ground. If he hadn't been rifling through his bag for God knows whatever it was, he would have suffered a broken nose and a nasty gash on his forehead. Instead, his bag—along with most of his textbooks—broke the fall, and he ended up with a nasty gash on his hand instead.

Which was _just_ what he needed for next week's district games. After spending a considerable amount of time cursing at the slippery driveway, Inuyasha had gotten up and dragged himself back into his room to change. On the upside, he was now in a fresh uniform, which was always better than a wet, dirty one. It smelled like detergent and fresh air—perfect. But on the downside, he ended up being late to school.

For the third time. In a week.

It would have been fine—he could've hung out at the dugout until third period—but as luck would have it, the moment he had stepped foot into the school, the secretary had run smack into him. "Oh, if it isn't Mr. Furiko." If there was one thing about her that made him angry for no reason, it was her monotonous, nasal voice. "Glad to see you decided to attend school today." Today was no different; she sounded like she woke up sick again.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered. "I'm glad, too." It would have been a consolation if she had just let it drop there, but as it was, teachers and any person with some form of authority were always attracted to him for _some_ reason.

He had almost turned the corner when she piped up again. "I'll be marking this down on your records." That was when he knew it; the day would positively _suck_.

And suck it did. He had managed to run into the damn secretary again later in the afternoon, had Miroku bother him more than usual at lunch, and stubbed his toe on a random bench. The chair didn't even stand a chance as he effectively kicked the leg out from underneath it, and Inuyasha watched with slight satisfaction as the seat collapsed to one side, and his bag slid onto the ground. "Serves you right," he grouched to the object and swiped for the sack before stomping out of the park.

Basically, if the day hadn't screwed him over, it certainly made him feel uncomfortable. And by 'uncomfortable', he meant that certain event during lunch right before Miroku had pranced in to check whether or not he would be going to Kawaguchi's party.

He didn't want to admit it—he didn't even _like_ the thought of it—but whenever his thoughts strayed near there, his ears went a tad shade darker. "Goddamn," Inuyasha muttered, slamming the house door behind him. "You could've just left it there, but no, you had to go and chase me down." It had been a very bad day, and he was in a foul mood—too foul to describe it properly, apparently.

"Inuyasha?" It was Kaoru, and she appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later in a red silk robe. It was the expensive one big man InuTaisho had bought for her for their last anniversary. Pity, it would've made a nice gift, if he had actually been there to present it to her. The two-karat diamond ring, the emerald-encrusted necklace, and that perfume she was always wearing would have also made nice gifts, too. Altogether, the items he presented to her over the past decade or so would have been more than enough to feed a third world country, but frankly, he was too busy traveling to give a damn about anything else, and she was too busy trying to salvage their relationship to give a damn about anything else, either.

Then he remembered that she had called for him. "What?" he replied hastily, throwing his bag to the side and shrugging off his jacket.

"Why the noisy entrance?" she yawned, stretching backwards. Her eyes followed him, but she made no move to descend.

Instead, he climbed up the stairs by two's and walked uninterestedly past her. "Just a bad day." It was true, too. Absolutely _nothing_ good came out of today, and he would have been far better off faking a cold that morning.

"What happened?" Kaoru followed him up to the room entrance; at that point Inuyasha promptly closed the door in her face. Then there was a lot of rustling and movement on the other side of the wall.

"Nothing," came the muffled answer. "The day's been a bit on the crappy side, if you know what I mean."

She shrugged, an apathetic smile briefly flitting across her face. "Oh, we get those all the time." There was no reply—just more shuffling on the other side. She shifted on her other foot. "Still, that's no reason for you to enter the house like the way you did. You want to bring the house down or something?"

The door opened, and Inuyasha walked out with a duffel bag slung across his shoulders. "No. Maybe I'm just a child resorting to desperate measures to get attention from his family." All of that said, and not a single look back at her. She watched as he walked breezily across the hallway and started for the stairs.

A moment later there was a loud clatter on the other side of the house, and Kaoru sighed, shaking her head. "Welcome home, Inuyasha darling," she said to the emptiness. "I love you, too."

-

He threw the ball into the air and swung the bat a moment later, watching with satisfaction as the fence jangled furiously. There was nothing like a good workout.

_He was lounging on the bench as usual, staring at the people loitering on the field. Jeez, didn't these people have anywhere else to go? Nearby a gaggle of girls were sitting by the base of the oak tree, and they were whispering. If one's definition of whispering was to talk as loudly as possible in a not-so-subtle hushed voice, that is. They were talking about some actor or something; whatever it was, it was annoying as hell, especially the lead one. She didn't have to do anything—just her voice grated his nerves already, like that secretary. He contemplated throwing a baseball into their group, just to see them scream and fragment into scattering twits before reassembling a bit further away. It was ridiculous… so ridiculous that it could possibly work._

—Grab the baseballs and start over—

_His hand was already curling around the smooth leather and its red stitches when there was a shuffle behind him. In an instant the annoyance was shifted from the group to the person behind him. Could that dumbass ever take a hint? As soon as he tensed up, the shuffling stopped… and only to be picked up again at a quieter pace. "For fuck's sakes," Inuyasha growled, and already he could see his left eye twitching. "I know you're behind me, Miroku. Stop playing fairy feet with me, 'cuz you're not as light as you think you are." He didn't give the idiot a chance to start._

_"And before you start spewing shit, I'm going to cut to the chase—leave me the hell alone. I ain't going to that—"_

_"I'm not Miroku."_

—Wait two seconds, that was almost always the case, and hit at a 35-degree angle—

_The voice was definitely too high for even the captain to imitate. The only conclusion that the intruder was not the annoying captain, but someone else. Inuyasha whipped around, his eyes already glaring. Just because it wasn't Miroku didn't make it any less annoying; rather, it was more offensive. "Who the hell—" The nasty remark was cut short as he saw his neighbor stand a few feet away from him, looking surprisingly demure from behind the fences._

—Curve balls still gave him trouble after all this time, dammit. He improved, but it was his considerable weakness. If only it wasn't so low—

_She wasn't staring him down or making him feel inferior with that glare of hers (quite a feat). Instead, she was looking at the ground and fiddling with the hem of her skirt. Kagome Higurashi never played with the hem of her skirt; it defied all aspects of her personality, and it certainly wasn't her character to do so. That was one of the many numerous ways he could tell that something was eating her, and she was going to drag him down again._

_Then he thought about what had happened yesterday, with the whole crying and sobbing and yelling and the shebang, and panic started to seize him, starting with his balls. Of pride, that is. Kagome was a strong character—she wouldn't break down in the middle of school, not even if the apocalypse was coming. But then again, he hadn't thought she could break down so hysterically like that yesterday… so essentially, anything was possible in the aftermath._

_"Look," they both started at the same time. They also stopped at the same time and waited for the other to go. When he didn't say anything, Kagome finally looked up._

—His right hand was bleeding again, and it was starting to itch considerably. He needed to get Kaoru to check that out before next week's district games. If a scout saw him perform at anything less than his best—

_"Did you want to go?" she asked, and he was suddenly pissed off at the awkwardness between them. What the fuck? He only saw her cry—it wasn't like he had caught her making out with that spineless boyfriend of hers._

_"You go first," he said with a careless shrug, and he meant it. He didn't really care either way—he just cared whether she was going to start bursting randomly again, and that was a no-no. So just to make sure, he was being extra courteous to not set off any emotions._

_Of course, that didn't mean that being extra courteous was encouraging Kagome to hurry up. She stood there for a good two minutes, 'um'-ing and 'ah'-ing and looking generally unsure of herself. It was quite the phenomenon to see someone act so outside of herself, and he was quickly becoming irritated until finally: "God, just spit whatever the hell it is out already!" That felt so, so good._

—There was a very unusual crack in the air, and he looked down to find—"Shit! Not my good bat!"—

_She looked up sharply, and her mouth pursed. "Well, I'm trying to find a good way to string it! If you'd stop acting like you'd have to be somewhere all the time, maybe I wouldn't feel so pressured!" Ah, the I'm-about-to-have-a-cow-fit side. He'd take that over the emotional one any day._

_"One, it ain't class, so spit it out already, and two, I don't want to be attached to the hips with you. God knows we've seen each other more than we ever wanted to in the past few days."_

_"Oh, you're so smart to think up of that insult," Kagome retorted, her hands no longer playing with the threads of her skirt. They were planted squarely on each side of her hips now, and they certainly looked ready to swing right through the wires separating the two._

_Inuyasha dutifully ignored the jab and looked away from her, not because she was too intense, but because he thought he saw a dragonfly flutter somewhere. (Did they even flutter?) "Hurry up and tell me what you wanted to say." Whatever it is, it certainly wouldn't be too bad to handle, now that he had her jostled into some semblance of a normal mood. If normal was defined as angry and livid, that is._

_It got quiet again, and not in that relaxed sense, either. Momentarily distracted from his hunt, Inuyasha turned around again—_

_And he found the warmest smile._

—God, how could he have missed such an easy fastball? It was practically made for him! He growled, aggravated by such a blatant mistake. He was doing it all wrong, all wrong. How the hell would he make it to the major leagues if he played like a four year old?—

_It was so out of the blue, so definitely way out of left field, so-so not what he was expecting, and he thought that maybe it was just a joke, that maybe all those years of staring at the sun was beginning to catch up to him. All it took was one glance at her eyes, and something landed hard in his stomach. What the hell indeed._

_"Thank you," Kagome said, the smile still strange and slightly distorted on her face. He had always seen her face pulled into a scowl or a smirk (Got that from him, admittedly.), and any time she had been smiling or laughing, it was never directed at him. At all. "For-for yesterday, I mean. I won't do it again—I'll make sure to never do it again, actually—but… just for not being your usual self, I guess." Then the flash of smile became a support smile, and soon a mess of black hair followed it as she turned around and walked away._

_Inuyasha didn't have time to process anything further because Miroku suddenly surprised him from behind._

—"Hell yeah, that's what I want to see!" The ball soared into the air and rebounded off the fence. All the hard work invested into the practice was paying off, finally. There really was nothing like a good workout.

-

He came back around seven or eight, climbing up the steep, green hill. Droplets of sweat slid down his face and stained his shirt. _Whatever_. That workout did the trick and made him forget about the stupid day and its thirst for Inuyasha misery. _'Cuz that's how you beat the system—you don't let it get to you_.

The lights on his house were blinding him, even at a distant pace, and he briefly wondered just how much they were paying for the electric bill each month. It could easily be three times as many as his neighbors were paying.

Being outside during the dusk was always one of his favorite times of the day. It was quiet and serene, and his thoughts weren't usually so jumbled around his head. Out in the baseball field during this time? Heaven. Sometimes he snuck out of the house just to hang around in the deserted field; it wasn't like he was having a mental breakdown or was claustrophobic or anything—sometimes life moved by _way_ too fast, as much as he loved being part of the fast and furious. Being out there with no nagging parents or teachers or annoying neighbors usually helped him get away from it all.

He never really did deal with stress well.

As he neared the house, the air blowing softly around him, it became apparent that maybe today was really destined to be a bad day. For starters, a sleek, silver car was parked in the driveway, and that only meant one thing.

Inuyasha slipped through the back door, and Kaoru's shrieks immediately enveloped him. "—that I like all this?" They were coming from the kitchen, and thankfully, the backdoor was connected to the living room—one room down, and he would've been caught.

"I don't need this, not when I finally come home after hard work," his father rumbled angrily. "I don't need you talking to me like I'm some obstinate child—"

"Child? You think _I_ treat you like a child?" Kaoru screeched. "How about we redefine how you've been treating me lately, huh? I'm just locked up in this house like some-some porcelain doll!"

"I've _never_ made you stay in this place against your will!" InuTaisho interjected. "I'm not the one who's chaining you to this house! _You're_ the one who's doing it to yourself!"

"Oh yes, like I've always wanted to sit at home and wait for my husband to come home! Fuck it, if I'm going to be some slave to this household, at least _make_ an effort to come home every month instead of an annual visit!"

"Don't you try and turn the table on me now! I've given you everything you've ever wanted. Those Belgian chocolates didn't come cheap—"

"Oh, so you think that's what it is? The materials in this house? I never wanted any of them!" Her voice cracked. "All I wanted was to spend time with you—"

"That wasn't what you said when I gave you those imported gold bracelets."

She breathed just a littler harder, her eyes moistening just a little, and InuTaisho deflated just a little bit. "No, Kaoru, that-that came out wrong. I didn't mean—"

Before he could finish his statement, she had swiftly unclasped the bracelets on her left arm and chucked them at his head. They ricocheted off his forehead neatly and slid across the floor and into some dark corner underneath the oven. "The fu—"

"Is that what I am to you?" she shrilled, and the tears were really falling down now. "A-A dress up doll? There, your damn bracelets back. If I don't dress in any of the gaudy crap you give me, will it bring you back? Will it make you less selfish and more humane?"

"Don't you—"

"The good China silverware?" There were loud crashes and crunches and cracks. "Gone. Will you come back now?"

"Stop it—"

"The earrings?" There was a loud grinding noise that grumbled suspiciously from the sink. "Gone. No more. Will you come back now?"

"Stop it—"

"This two karat diamond ring you gave me?" The sound of a window breaking. "It's gone, it's all gone. I've been stripped now. Will you come back now?"

"No."

"Then I'll _break_ everything until he does," she said quietly once, and he knew it was the calm before the storm.

That was as far as Inuyasha got, as he safely made it into his room and shut the door quietly behind him. Downstairs the pandemonium resumed, and he shook his head, a disgusted sneer on his face. "Grow up, you guys," he muttered, pulling the sweaty shirt over his head. As usual, his parents couldn't have a normal dinner without yelling at one another. He was definitely hungry, but there was no way in hell he was risking his neck by traveling back downstairs just for a piece of rice. It just wasn't worth it.

But still, he was really hungry….

Pulling a new one over his head, and frankly not caring whether he smelled or not, he locked the door and shut off the lights. As much as he didn't want to, it looked like Inuyasha would have to pilfer some food from Kagome again. He was still a little iffy about what had transpired between the two (and more importantly, why he had felt a little uneasy by her presence) earlier this afternoon, but it was unimportant now. He had bigger fish to fry—literally. His stomach grumbled at the thought of instant ramen; that stuff was always good, too, and it seems her mom always had some form of it stocked somewhere inside her house.

Pushing open the window, Inuyasha easily climbed down the two stories. His parents had more than a few fights in this house, so of course he had more than a few opportunities to learn how to escape the hellhole. The first few times were rough, and Kagome hadn't noticed the bruises on his chin the original night he scaled her wall. That was because he fell more than five feet above ground and landed on his ribs, which really, _really_ hurt like hell. But that was the past, and he was certainly better at the whole sneaking out thing now. Not that his parents cared either way, but it was a benefit for him.

What _wasn't_ a benefit, though, was finding that Kagome wasn't home. Her room was dark, and as it turns out, the entire house was dark, too. _Why the hell isn't she here_? He thought, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. No way in hell she had a date with that boyfriend of hers… or maybe she did. He preferred not to think about her being all kissy-faced with another guy—didn't want to spoil his appetite, now did he?

Well, even then, at least her mom should have been home cooking or something. Inuyasha must have stood there for a good minute before it finally hit him; the district game for the girls was tonight! Ah, so that meant that if it started at eight o' clock, which was a good hour ago, and there was no after party to attend to—assuming they would lose….

_Shit_, he groaned inwardly. The earliest they would come home would be around eleven-thirty, if he was lucky. "Where the hell am I going to find food now?" he whined out loud. He had forgotten his wallet upstairs, so going to a fast-food place was out of the question. He _did_ have his cell phone, but what good would that do? It's not like he could eat the damn thing….

_Kawaguchi is having a party Friday night._

The single, traitorous thought flickered through his head, and he immediately squished it down. But it wouldn't disappear _quite_ completely; instead, it repeated itself several hundred more times. "No way, _no_ way," Inuyasha protested, his mouth pulled into a stubborn frown. "I ain't going there, no matter what. I am _not_, under any circumstances, letting that idiot think he won, and that's final."

The tough attitude lasted approximately thirty seconds, and his stomach howled in agony once, twice, and a third final time before completely taking over his self-control. Before he knew it, Inuyasha had flipped open the cell phone and dialed in Miroku's number. A few rings later, someone picked up on the other end.

"Yeah… so where's Kawaguchi's party again?"

-


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Second Base

**A/N:** So my cousins came over for a party during the weekend. Too bad I was stuck with 200 glorious pages of _Moby Dick_. Not to mention I also had homework. It's just too bad I literally spent my entire spring break in New England; otherwise, we would've really partied. : (

(And you _know_ I'm totally procrastinating.)

**Disclaimer:** Bah. Need one of those universal ones.

* * *

**Chapter 15: Second Base**

_Nghi

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_

"Oh, it's really nearby," Miroku had said, his voice barely audible over the loud music. "It's only ten minutes from where you live, at the most. You freakin' _live_ in his neighborhood, man. I've been over here so many times before, trust me."

He should have known better.

He really, _really_ should have known better and went with his instinct. He should have opened his mouth and requested—no, _demanded_, "Pick me up, then." It would have made life so much easier and oh so much less painful, because it had taken Inuyasha more than a grand two hours to trek through four neighborhoods, two parks, countless intersections, and two steep hills. Presently, he was working on his third one.

"Where the fuck does he live?" Inuyasha growled, ignoring the way his soles ached for a bench, or the way his thighs throbbed funnily, or even the way his left kneecap was making weird, popping noises. It didn't matter; at this point, he just wanted to find the goddamn house, find an empty bedroom, and curl up to sleep. Maybe he could wake up later and rummage through the refrigerator, but right now, his body was too sore to comprehend hunger.

After much grumbling and whatnot, Inuyasha reached the peak of the hilly road. "Thank God." And he meant it, too. Running had never been a problem with him—he just hated moving anywhere.

Finally pulling himself away from his irritation, Inuyasha looked around and realized that, surprise surprise, he was nowhere near a white house isolated among trees and hills. Scratch that—there was a shitload of hills. But sarcasm aside, there really _was_ no white house; if anything, he was in the middle of a big city. A _really_ big city.

"Fuck," he swore, glancing around one more time. "What kind of directions are these?" Of course, there was always a possibility that he took a wrong turn or two a few streets back, but two things were flagrantly wrong with that postulation, one being it way too hard to keep track of anything without a pen or paper. The other blatant mistake was that Inuyasha never made mistakes when it came to destinations. Fuck, if there were two things he couldn't screw up in life, it was baseball and driving. And by driving, he meant location-wise, not safety-wise. He was more than confident in his superb ability to read any map, so logic pretty much dictated that Miroku had fucked him over.

"That no good, son of a—" Inuyasha muttered underneath his breath, reaching into his pocket for the cell phone. It was almost ten-thirty, and most of the stores had closed by now. That meant if Miroku couldn't help him get to Yamaguchi's, then three things would happen: he wouldn't be able to go back home; he would be sleeping beside a homeless man for the night; and of course, Miroku will have brain hemorrhage come Monday.

Which meant the captain had better pick up the ringing phone _now_.

Luckily, the man did so a few rings later, and he was greeted with a prompt "Fuck you". "Whoa, buddy, simmer down there." Miroku frowned at the other end. "What's gotten into you?"

"What's gotten into _me_?" Inuyasha barked incredulously. "More like what's gotten into _you_!"

"Oh, just a few shots and six-packs…." A merry cheer followed.

"That's not what I meant!" He nearly kicked a public trash can onto the street, but stopped himself just in time. Instead, he took three deep breaths before speaking into the mouthpiece. "What I want to know is where the hell you got those directions to Yamaguchi's house."

There was a long pause at the end of the line.

"Miroku, it _is_ at Yamaguchi's, right?" Somehow, he couldn't seem to control that twitch below his eye….

"Well, theoretically… yeah."

"You-!"

"But but but! Before you go ripping a new one in me," he interrupted, "I know how you must feel, all stupid and let down for having missed a great party. But rest assured, the party is still live and swinging. It just… moved."

There was litter all over the black pavement as Inuyasha stalked away. "Listen," he hissed venomously, and Miroku involuntarily winced. Thank God for technology. "You fuckin' dragged me two hours from my home to go to a fuckin' party from some random guy. Then when it turns out your directions were all a bunch of twists and turns that led to nowhere, you finally tell me the party's fuckin' moved somewhere else?"

"You make it sound like I did that on purpose or something."

"Aughhh—" There was a soft click, and then silence permeated through the air. Or through the line, rather.

"Hello?" Miroku covered his ears, straining to hear any noise. "Hello? Inuyasha? Oh great, battery's dead."

-

We're sorry, the phone number you have tried to dial is temporarily unavailable. Please hang up and try—

Angrily, he pressed the end button and dialed the number again. "You did _not_ just hang up on me, asshole," he muttered darkly, and for all it was worth, he glared burning holes into the screen. It was all the fucktard's fault—if he would just pull his goddamn face away from some girl's chest, then _maybe_ he wouldn't have misled an innocent boy into the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night!

We're sorry, the phone number— 

He couldn't stop himself; Inuyasha let loose a long string of profanity as he shoved the phone back into his pocket. _I swear to God, when Monday comes around…._

But the murderous thought would have to wait, because right now, he had a bigger problem: where the hell was he going to stay for the night?

A few taxis rolled past him, but Inuyasha hadn't brought any money. That also ruled out renting a hotel of any kind. He could try backtracking to his house again, but he wasn't too sure how he could do that when Miroku had been stringing him along with phony directions. Plus, it would just put the icing on the cake if his parents were still fighting; two hours was not enough when those two were duking it out under one rooftop.

The only option he had was to sleep somewhere _public_.

"I am _so_ going to make you bleed for this, asshole."

-


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Second Base

**A/N:** Hoho. So I've decided to join fictionpress(dot)net, and let me tell you, it's a pretty cool place. 8D I started writing an original story, and it's romance and stuff. But you know I suck at those kinds of things, so I guess it's like, some form of practice for me. Or something.

So I won't, you know, sound stupid in the future.

So anyways, AP exams and SATS are ruining my life. How about you guys?

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha / mine.

* * *

**Chapter 16: Second Base**

_Nghi_

* * *

Inuyasha decided on the spur of the moment that he would _not_ be sleeping in this town. Actually, it wasn't more of a "spur of the moment" kind of thing, but rather a "fuck this shit I ain't sleeping in a second-rate town" thing. He was raised in a good house with a good family and a good bed, so it only took all of three brain cells for him to decide on that matter.

Good job! Now, the next important question was: where was he going to sleep?

He sighed, irritated, and ran a hand through his ragged hair. It never bothered him much, the twists and snarls, although Kaoru always insisted on dragging a (rough) comb through it every now and then. "Grooming is the key to a happy family," she had said sagely before attacking him with a purple, tooth-picked comb.

Fucking cow.

Well, it was bothering him now, not because his hair was ratty and tatty and all other adjectives ending in –atty, but because he hadn't managed to sneak in a shower before he snuck out. In all honesty, Inuyasha had never expected to be in this kind of situation; he hadn't even planned on leaving past his gate! If there had just been some kind of foreshadowing, some kind of sign from Almighty above, he might have—_might have_—taken his sweet time in the bathroom that morning and bothered with a fifteen minute shower or two.

"I'm going to gut him like Kaoru guts a fish," he growled, his eyes narrowing furiously. He had every reason to feel like that, because after that bastard cut him off from his swearing tangent, he had resorted to ambling around the town until he could find somewhere to sleep.

But of course, nothing could ever run as smooth like that. No, nothing could ever just go _fucking_ right for once, and Inuyasha ended up contracting a homeless follower just like how Miroku would end up contracting a brain hemorrhage the following Monday. Presently he was just trying to find a bench to wallow on or some compassionate store that would be open at one-thirty in the morning and would allow a dirty baseball player from some no-nothing high school to spend the night in.

No such luck so far, and as if it wasn't _bad_ enough that the mattress discount place was already closed, he had gained a following afterwards. Or follower, for that matter. The man had seen him walking around, saw the fancy-schmancy clothes Inuyasha had been wearing, and was now trailing after him like some kind of puppy. "Hey, boy, I have a place you can sleep," Mr. Homeless called out a _wee_ bit too suggestively, and Inuyasha stiffened, quickening his pace a bit. That sounded wrong on so many levels….

"Hey, boy, can you hear me? Or you deaf?" _I want to be deaf, I want to be deaf. Buddha, I swear to God I'll start donating money if you take out my eardrums now—!_

Unfortunately, no form of higher being heard him, and when Mr. Homeless called him again, Inuyasha had no choice but to keep walking faster. Maybe he was a bit—he took a wild stab—autistic or something? That was it; maybe the man suffered such a heartrending blow to the head that he couldn't make out the very unsubtle hint of 1-800-GET-LOST! Maybe that was why he kept following him around like a weirdo! Maybe that was why—

All forms of thoughts and devil's advocate for the man was dashed out of Inuyasha's head when Mr. Homeless took it upon himself to grab his elbow. "Hey, do you want to sleep with me—"

He never finished that question.

"Don't touch me," Inuyasha snarled as Mr. Homeless stumbled back a few feet, but it was more out of terror than anger. _He touched me! He actually **touched** me!_ With the man holding his broken and bleeding nose and in such a daze, Inuyasha grabbed at the chance to move his skinny, little ass out of sight and made a run for it.

This was fantastic, bloody fantastic; getting felt up by some-some _vagabond_ was nowhere near his top-ten-ways-to-have-fun-on-Friday-night list.

By the time Mr. Homeless had recovered from his stupor, Inuyasha was already two blocks down the place. Good. It didn't look like any more homeless people would be attacking him soon. Which didn't make any sense to begin with, because he did _not_ look like a rich kid's son or anything. "Yeah, so I'm wearing a shirt," he grumbled, looking down at himself. "But it ain't anything special."

And it really wasn't. Maybe a grass stain or two, but then again, when had the elitists decided a dirt smear was the fashionable thing nowadays? He may have been socially retarded, but he wasn't oblivious to trends and whatnot; he remembered talking to Kagome's what's-her-face friend around the first year of high school. Right off the bat (Har har.) she had emitted this I-know-everything-there-is-to-know-about-fluffy-shit, and he had ignored her, if not altogether dismissed her. And as the years went by, it turned out that Inuyasha hadn't been too far off; she was pretty high maintenance, and he never failed to see how Kagome could stand that twit's company.

Not that he watched her or anything. He had other things in mind and stuff to do, much more important stuff. Like baseball, college scouts, Miroku's intestine, to name a few.

Well, the "stuff" inside his head must have been quite turbulent, because Inuyasha rounded a corner and promptly tripped over a trashcan. "Oh, fuck!" he managed to squeeze in before falling ungracefully on his backside. "_Thank_ you, God, fucking _thank you_."

"Hmm, you should have watched where you were going," a voice reprimanded him lazily, and Inuyasha immediately tensed up with anger. What the fuck? Who the hell gave _whoever_ it was the right to talk to him like that? If he had been a little calmer, Inuyasha would've realized how ridiculous the situation was, and more importantly how ridiculous he was acting. But he wasn't really a calm person to begin with, now was he?

So through the super combination of an incredibly shitty day, a meltdown inside his household, lack of food and good hygiene, and aching feet (as well as a sensitive bum), Inuyasha more or less exploded. "Listen," he snapped petulantly, turning to the person, "Fuck. Off. I don't give a _shit_ who you think you are, but you talk to me like that again, and I'm going to claw your perky, little nose off."

He wasn't slow; he had noticed that the "mysterious person" was a girl since the "fuck" park—hence the "perky, little nose" bit. But he was too irate to care, and thus the harsh tone. Yes, Inuyasha had _consciously_ flipped off a random girl, and he was damn proud of it; no one was going to push him around now! (Ignoring the fact that his conclusion was completely different from the expository.)

But the pride would only last so long, because then his conscience kicked in. _You idiot!_ It berated silently. _Do you know how mean that sounded? Now you're going to make her cry, you fool!_ Inuyasha winced inwardly, suddenly cowering. Crying? As in tears? As in wet, drippy noses and liquid pooling at the corners while they sobbed into their hands? As in bend-over-backwards-Inuyasha-the-mat?

Augh, no no no no! The girl looked away, frowning vaguely, and Inuyasha went into panic mode. Silently, of course; it wouldn't be manly and in character of him to verbalize about the butterflies in his stomach having seizures. "Jeez," he muttered, looking away from the girl. It was Kagome version two-point-oh all over again. "You… don't have to be so sensitive about my words, OK?" It was the best he could do, because he just didn't have the heart to say sorry—something about man's pride. He heard her breathe in sharply, almost like a shudder, and… wait for it… right about now his conscience was ready to deliver a mind-numbing kick to— 

"Who said anything about being sensitive?" Oh God, _why_ did he have to… what? Inuyasha looked up, and he guessed it must have been the way he looked, what with the word "confusion" almost tattooed across his forehead, because the girl smiled. Apparently, she was amused by the situation. "What, did you think I was going to cry?" she asked inquisitively, with a tilted head. It was almost, almost—

_Angelic_. Yuck. Inuyasha had definitely grown past the "girls-with-cooties" stage, but it didn't mean that he didn't find some of their behaviors repulsive. Like now. _Put your head on straight, because it's not as cute as you think_. But it wasn't like he was going to go and say that out loud now, because for two reasons: it might make her cry, and it would make him sound like a complete ass.

So he opted to grumble incomprehensibly and move onto his feet. But the girl—oh, she was a rude one, wasn't she? If personalities were everything, she was more or less up to par with Kagome there. Not even extending a hand out graciously or asking if he was fine. All she did was sit back and ask stupid questions about what he thought. Let's see what happens the next time _she_ fell over _his_ trashcan. "Thanks for the help." Inuyasha couldn't help himself and let the annoyance slip. Despite what Kaoru and Kagome said, he _did_ have manners, albeit rugged and uncouth. Refinement was never his thing, anyways, but at least he _had_ some.

Which was more than could be said for this girl.

The girl shrugged and tucked a long strand of hair behind her ears. "Make sure you pick up the litter," she reminded, turning around to re-enter the shop.

What? 

"Hell no," he responded automatically, and he saw her freeze by the doorway. "You know how dangerous the fucking thing is? I could have slipped and broken a leg, you know."

"You should have watched where you were going, then," the girl reiterated, glancing coolly at him, _daring_ him to speak back.

He did. (Because there was no way he was going to be picking up apple skins for the remainder of the night.)

"And _you_ should have put that thing a little less out there," he glanced at her nametag. "Kikkoman!"

If he hadn't been aggravated by her behavior, he certainly would've spotted the slight flicker in her eyes. Or maybe not; it was hard to tell what passed through that thick barrier of his, also known as his skull. Whatever the case was, Inuyasha did _not_ pick up anything and only continued to staring back at her, trying to provoke her. Admittedly, it was the only way he could vent his anger. (Not that he was feeling guilty about it, because she was _such_ a bitch.)

"I hope you learn how to read before you graduate, because it reads _Kikyo_, not Kikkoman." All of this was said with an oxymoronic softness that belied the sting of the words. Which made it even more effective. (Did that even make sense? His head was hurting now, so he just waved it off. Grammar later—situation now.) Of course, it wasn't enough that this Kikyo girl backhanded him with college-sounding sophistication; no, she was going for the KO, disguised in the form of her next rhetorical question:

"Are you sure you've learned your kanji?"

…_That-that—!_ He spluttered, more than offended and not finding any words, much less the right words, to say at all. Fuck, he couldn't even think correctly, either! He had never been particularly elegant with diction, but it didn't mean he didn't know how to articulate _at all_. So when she had said that, there was nothing Inuyasha could do but stand there like a complete fool and watch as her dark eyes take in the trash still surrounding his feet. "Make sure you don't leave scraps behind. It attracts the raccoons." And with that said, Kikyo turned around for real and strolled back into the shop with the door shut in his face.

Inuyasha thought Kagome would get along famously with her.

-


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Second Base

**A/N:** I want to thank you guys for sticking to this story, seriously. My irregular updating pattern is gross and everything, but that's OK. I hope to not disappoint or anything! Oh yeah, and another thing: I made it past fifty reviews! I'm really proud of that, because this is one of the better stories I've done, so I feel like it's a big accomplishment or something. :D HEARTS to the following: **ya1ya**, **kimika the fluff lover**, **animekitty07**, **kachan**, **Kourtney**, and **Christykay**.

**Disclaimer:** :(

* * *

**Chapter 17: Second Base**

_Nghi

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_

"Did you see the way she hit that baseball out of the field?" Yuka demanded, waving her arms around, and Eri giggled. "I swear to you, the entire audience went quiet when they saw the ball soar _out_ of the field for the sixth time.It was _awesome_, and honestly, you should have been there to see it all."

"Oh, stop it," Kagome protested, but a smile tugged at the corners of her lips anyways. "It's so like you to exaggerate events." She turned to Eri, who was looking at the two amusedly. "Ignore her. She's just being silly."

Yuka squeaked indignantly. "Miss Higurashi, I don't tell _anything_ but the truth, and you know that. Besides, the crowd really _did_ go quiet when you _single-_handedly won for the team."

"You're forgetting that the rest of the team scored the other thirty-three points."

"Whatever. You scored the most, all right?" Yuka looked at her with a smug grin, daring Kagome to just _try_ and contradict what she had said. Not that she wanted to be arrogant, but her friend _did_ have a point….

Still, it made Kagome a little uneasy how Yuka could say something like that so flippantly. She was particularly infamous for making or breaking other students in the school population, _especially_ since she led the gossip mill and the whole nine yards. She was the one, after all, who spread the news of Kagome and Hojo as an "official" item… and by herself, too! Yuka was influential, and Kagome could _just_ imagine the hell she would be getting if a few boastful remarks from her friend (Admittedly stemming from good intentions.) reached the ears on the team.

_Oh boy._

The only problem now was how to tell Yuka all of this without hurting her feelings. She was quite the dramatic—actually, she was the _only_ dramatic one, and Kagome thought it was _slightly_ ostentatious. But friends had flaws, and it wasn't like _she_ was perfect, either. _Far from it._ For instance, she wasn't about to go and tell them that she had gotten into another fight with Ayumi on the same night as the baseball game, and she wasn't about to go and tell them that Yamaguchi had wanted to come over and properly eat with the family, and she wasn't about to go and tell them that she had taken her frustration out in the game. Kagome was far from weak, but it wasn't like she could hit consecutive home runs on a daily basis, like Saturday's competition.

But no one knew that. They just thought she had crazy skills, and the coach had enveloped her into a bear hug afterwards, when the team had won, and she had demanded to know why this "sudden power" hadn't come out sooner. "I'm going to harness this talent of yours," she had announced fiercely, almost comically, before beaming a thousand watt smile down at her, like she was his top-secret weapon. "You never give up, Higurashi, do you?"

She didn't know how close "Higurashi" had been to doing the exact opposite. If Kagome had to be honest with herself, the only thing that had dragged her out of the bedroom was Inuyasha's invective rewinding over and over inside her head since last Wednesday. She had half a mind to bet that he had kicked her out of the field because she reminded him of himself. (She scoffed.) But still, his inveighing against her was somewhat needed for, and somehow it looked like she had needed that rough slap to the face. It was, essentially, a douse of _violently_ cold water, as Inuyasha had pulled her back to reality with his 'fuck's and 'get out's.

So Kagome had gotten out of bed and threw on her uniform, and here she was, basking in the winning afterglow. But she couldn't fully enjoy it, not when she knew that her jerk of a neighbor had had some indirect power on Saturday's game. Of course, she _might_ have been overanalyzing it, and she _might_ have been giving him more credit than necessary, but a bigger part in her head didn't think so.

"Hey," Yuka nudged her friend, a frown marring her face. "You listening?" She had always been pretty, and Kagome was slightly envious of the way Yuka was able to look sad _and_ well composed at the same time. Meanwhile, on the other hand, Kagome was just a mess when she started crying. _I'm sure Inuyasha could attest to that,_ she thought dryly.

Her lack of answer brought Eri into the mix as well. "Are you OK?" she asked worriedly, touching Kagome's elbow lightly. It was so nice to be cared for by your friends, wasn't it?

Kagome shook her head, smiling again. "No, no, I'm fine, you guys. I was just thinking about—you know, the home runs and stuff." It was too complicated to rehash it all out again. One time was enough, and she had no plans to rear _that_ ugly head again.

Yuka crowed happily, clapping her hands like a little child. "I knew you'd turn around. See, see? Even _she_ admits it was a pretty damn good game! You should've been there!"

Eri groaned and shook her head. "Stop babbling already. I get it, I should have seen Kagome's game, OK? But tell me, would going to the competition have helped my schoolwork situation in any way?"

Yuka was quiet for a moment, contemplating and mulling over the question silently before she came to a conclusion and shook her head. "No, it wouldn't have," she conceded enthusiastically. "But you would've had a good time, though!"

"See, Kagome, _this_ is what separates us from her—ah!" Eri squealed and pulled back from a slap, and Yuka 'hmmph'-ed, satisfied.

"Serves you right for insulting me. At least I support my friends, you bookworm!"

Kagome laughed, watching as her friends embroil into a petty argument about who was more loyal and dedicated. It was a stupid quarrel, but it never failed to entertain. She wasn't able to tell them the issues that hurt her the most, but at least they distracted her for a while.

And that was good enough.

-

"Hojo's coming in three minutes," Ayumi whispered in her ear as they filed out of the classroom. "So just wait outside."

Before she could say anything or register the information, her friend had disappeared into the crowd of departing students, and Kagome had no choice but to follow the order, albeit reluctantly. She had to leave for baseball practice, and not to mention the _amount_ of homework the teachers had decided to give. Their excuse? To help the students prepare for the finals.

And college entrance exams! Oh gosh, she was dying on the inside from all the pressure and stress, and the prep school she had been going to _wasn't_ making the workload any easier. Kagome had plans to leave Osaka and Japan in general, but it would only be temporary. She had decided a long time ago that she would enter a university that allowed a student exchange of sorts; that way, she would be able to travel abroad and, hopefully, learn different ways to play baseball. Maybe in America they threw a curveball differently, more effectively. Or perhaps in France the batting technique guaranteed a hit each time. Whatever it was, Kagome wanted out of Japan and into the world—she would learn more that way.

And then she had found her dream school. It was in Tokyo, more than a two-hour commute away, and even though it wasn't the prestigious Todai University that everyone had been secretly dying to go to, it was still a good school, nonetheless, that sent its fair share of rejection letters. And after a bit of research, Kagome had discovered that it had a decent exchange program… a _very_ decent one. It was love at first sight, and now she was here, slaving away at her grades and hoping to God that it was good enough to make the cut.

It was a quarter past three now, and the students had trickled down to a few loitering around the hallways. Where was he? She had to go in a few minutes, and the coach wouldn't be pleased if she was late; the lady had seemed awfully determined to transform Kagome into an aggressive, baseball-hitting power machine on Saturday….

"Higurashi-san!" a voice greeted cheerfully behind her, and she turned around, a little startled. "I'm so glad you were able to get my message." Hojo grinned happily, and it was like his face had split into two. _He's that happy?_

"Ayumi told me right after class."

He looked relieved. "That's good! You were always the first to leave, so I wasn't sure if you would wait for me."

"What are you talking about? Of _course_ I'd wait. I'd do anything for you," Kagome added after a moment, nudging his ribs softly, and she almost laughed out loud when he turned a funny shade of red. She had meant it to be a joke, but somehow it had a different connotation to his ears. That was the best thing about him; he was just so easy to poke fun of. Not that she had a mean streak or anything, but that was how Hojo was, and she found it terribly amusing when he was embarrassed about silly, trivial things.

He was such a gentleman.

"I know you've been really busy lately," he began, easily falling into step as she started down the hallway. Maybe she could save time by talking _and_ walking. "And I know I haven't been the best boyfriend around."

Kagome almost tripped. _What_ was he talking about? "Oh no, don't say that," she started, shaking her head. "You've given me so much already, more than I could ask for." _Literally._

Hojo put up a hand to stop her. "No, I haven't. You're under a lot of stress right now, and it's noticeable, the way you try to stay awake during Japanese literature." He frowned, looking terribly guilty. "Do you know how bad it is for your back to remain hunched like that?"

_Unbelievable._ It was almost endearing the way he fussed over her, if she hadn't had to deal with it for a full-fledged two months. Kagome liked Hojo, she really did; the way he cared for her was so wonderful, and she doubted there would be any other guy like him, who expresses his affections with such unlimited kindness and the-thought-that-counts gifts. And not to mention he wasn't bad to look at, either. He was boyish, he was tall, he was family-oriented… he was the archetype of a good boyfriend.

But she couldn't help but feel like Hojo possessed an annoying degree of persistence. Resolve was one thing to have, but to take it to a level like he did…. There was no way Kagome was suggesting that he was a _stalker_ or anything, because truthfully, he would have been bad at it. He was too nice, the sort of guy who respected a girl's privacy too much to steal a pair of her underwear. But he was very adamant in lavishing her with attention, attention, and _more_ attention.

To put it simply: Hojo _lived_ for her.

In a way, it reminded Kagome of Ayumi, before the whole shit-hits-the-fan debacle. _Actually, it seems like Hojo's more of a mother figure than Ayumi herself._ Nasty thought, but she couldn't help feeling like that, either. It also didn't help that Ayumi wasn't trying very hard nowadays, although they had managed to poorly mend together their family on Friday.

Better than nothing, right? 

"—So I was hoping you would accept these," Hojo was saying, and she snapped back to attention just as he produced a small vial from his pocket.

"What's that?"

"Sleeping pills," he answered with a small hint of pride. "I told my father about your conditions—"

"Wait, I never mentioned _anything_ about conditions."

"No, you didn't, but if someone really cares for you, he wouldn't wait until you say something." Kagome didn't miss the substituted 'he'. "So I told my father about you, and he said that it was most likely because you were under so much pressure."

"Well, yeah…." Wasn't it natural, though? From school and colleges and baseball scouts, she had her work cut out for her. Family problems were just another side dish that she was trying to work out, too. "I guess I haven't been sleeping as much as I'd _like_ to."

Hojo beamed and pressed the capsule into her hands. "I knew it, so I had my dad filled out a small dose of sleeping pills for you. Just a little, so you won't hurt yourself." He wasn't letting go of her hands—he was squeezing it gently instead. "Make sure you follow the directions carefully, because you might accidentally overdose, OK?"

Kagome could only nod. Endearing indeed.

"That's great. You know, I'm glad you're finally opening up to me."

_Like I said, nothing I haven't hea—wait, what? _"What do you mean by that?" Yes, what was that sentence all about exactly?

Hojo flushed brilliantly, seeing that the apparent compliment hadn't gone over well. "I'm so sorry, Higurashi-san. I didn't mean for—"

It was her turn to put up a hand now. "No, no, it's fine. I'm not hurt or anything." She waited until he was slightly mollified before continuing. "I just want to know why you said it."

They were out of the school building now and walking along the black, chain-linked fence bordering the baseball field. She saw a few of the team members waving at her, and Kagome nodded in reply. It was almost time for practice, and she turned back to Hojo expectantly, wishing for _once_ that he would stop being so wishy-washy about his feelings and just _tell_ her how he felt. "Well?" she prodded, stopping in front of the entrance.

"Please don't feel offended, Higu—"

"I won't," she interrupted confidently. "So just go ahead and say it, all right?"

He looked unsure, and Kagome rolled her eyes exasperatedly. "Hojo, I promise I'm not going to cry." _I already did that last week._ "So please just tell me how you feel, because I have to go in a few minutes."

"All right. I think, Higurashi-san, that our relationship for the past two months was more about… well, getting _you_ to feel comfortable around me," Hojo said slowly, and he was the color of a ripened tomato by now. "And… I just thought that you finally telling me _something_ about your home—it means a lot, knowing that you are finally beginning to accept me." He looked away, embarrassed.

….

_He—?_ Kagome blinked once at him, then twice, and then a third time, and Hojo must have thought she was disgusted or tremendously hurt or _something_ equally negative, because he automatically launched into an apologetic spiel. "Oh, Higurashi-san, I didn't mean for it to sound so harsh. Please don't think of it that way, because I wouldn't intentionally hurt you. I was only trying my best to look out for—"

He stopped talking when she pulled him into a hug. Not an acquaintance type of hug, but the _real_ kind, the one where she could hear his faint heartbeat and smell his freshly-laundered clothes and feel the soft, black hair through her fingers. He was exactly how she imagined. For all it was worth, Hojo was a very good person to hug. (She also knew that any verbal form of pacification would fall on deaf ears, and hence partly the reason why they were in an impromptu embrace.)

By the time Kagome pulled back, the poor boy looked ready to faint. "Thank you," she said softly, not knowing if it answered anything or if it was the right thing to say. But she felt inclined to do so, because—because… maybe it was the fact that he was the first person to show genuine concern, a boy who willingly offered his shoulder for her to lean on. He wasn't as oblivious as she made him out to be, if he could read her feelings better than her friends could. Hojo annoyed her, and he distracted her, and he was there for her. He was a bit of bad and good, but most of all, he _respected_ her enough to wait patiently. He wanted her to be ready before anything happened, and that little thought—the _want_ for her to be sure, made her breath hitch and swallowing difficult. When was the last time she had felt confident about something? "Thank you," she repeated sincerely before moving to cross the field. _Thank you, thank you, thank you._

He was such a gentleman.

Kagome had barely walked ten paces when Hojo's voice called to her back. "Higurashi-san!" She stopped and turned her head.

His face was still a cherry red, but his knuckles were white from gripping the chained fence. "This—This Friday, my brother is coming back home, and my parents want to celebrate…." He trailed off, already beginning to lose his nerve. Some would find that pathetic, and Kagome would have usually made an excuse to weasel her way out. She often used baseball practice as the main reason, actually.

But it took one look at his hopeful face, and Kagome couldn't say no. At least, not today. So she nodded, a little smile flitting across her features, before turning around.

-

He watched them from a distance, near the entrance to the gym, and observed the whole "tender, loving" view or something. Whatever. It was like a scene right out of one of those sappy movies that Kaoru tended to rent nearly _every time_ they went to the video store. He guessed it was her way of making up for his dad's lack of romantic nature as of late. The next time he was going to a temple, he was going to pray to the gods that InuTaisho would come back home and satisfy Kaoru's sentimental needs. _That_ way, he wouldn't have to sit through another one of those god-awful tearjerkers.

Kaoru gets some affection, he gets peace and quiet—they all win in the end. See?

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. What the fuck? _Those two are so fucked up._ Who was wearing the pants exactly here? Who was the dominant one, the one in charge and everything? Well, from the look of things, it sure as hell wasn't Hojo, because that boy was blushing. _Fucking_ blushing! "Grow some balls," he muttered underneath his breath. It was such an embarrassment to call Kagome's idiot of a boyfriend a part of the male, human species.

The sad part was that Kagome seemed to be eating it all up. At least today, anyways. He shook his head; even though she was a banshee with mood problems worse than a bipolar schizophrenic, he had always thought she was sort of clever. Not smart, from the way her transcript looked, but clever in the sense that she knew what she was doing most of the time. What happened? What could have forced Kagome to run to this—this _thing_ that resembled a man?

Exactly. He didn't know, either. Inuyasha just knew that while Kagome was renowned for making stupid decisions, she had definitely crossed the line when she chose this wimp for a boyfriend.

It wasn't like he was starting to feel something for her. Inuyasha pursed his lips, racking his brain for the right words. It wasn't jealousy, but it couldn't have also been complete indifference, if he had to squash the mild desire to cross the lawn and sucker punch the boy in the face. Not that he would go and do it; Hojo was pretty good for a shortstop on the team, and he didn't think Miroku would appreciate it if Mr. Feelings appeared at practice with a broken nose.

No, it wasn't jealousy. He could tell it wasn't, because he didn't feel like walking up to Kagome, yanking her away from Hojo, and screaming at the top of his lungs, "Mine! Mine! Mine!" _That_ was envy, and the only time Inuyasha had ever felt or acted in that way was when Sesshoumaru had received an autographed baseball from an American team for Christmas.

So logically, if he didn't act towards Kagome the way he acted towards that baseball, it couldn't have been jealousy. No, it was more like… _wariness_. That didn't seem to fit, either, but it was the best he could come up with, so he stuck with it. Wariness, because if Hojo somehow ended up breaking her heart, Inuyasha would be forced to pick up the pieces and send her down the path with duct tape and some cheery advice. And the _only_ reason why he would even consider doing that was because she would most likely come sniveling into _his_ baseball field (It was still his, dammit!) and ruining his concentration like last time.

Inuyasha felt a small tug at the bottom of his stomach. He didn't like seeing her cry… he didn't like seeing _any_ girl cry. It was too emotional for him to handle, and if that was called stunted emotional development, then so be it. He'd rather have an abnormality that made him impervious to tears rather than being a basket filled with feelings to the brim. _Wimp._

He was the antithesis of Hojo, wasn't he?

He watched as the boy stopped Kagome and tripped over his words, and then he watched as she nodded slightly, a small smile on her face. The hell? Do girls like it when guys look like spineless jellyfish with the inability to form correct sentences? He scratched his chin, watching as she made her way to the team, where all the girls promptly began to giggle and wink rather conspicuously. They were a gaggle of idiots, and they acted even more idiotic when something big happened. At least he could deduce _that_ much.

"Someone jealous?" a teasing voice said beside him, and Inuyasha didn't even have to move to know who it was.

"You're going to be shitting blood all day," he replied smoothly, as if he had been practicing the line all weekend. He had.

Miroku shrugged off the threat and shuffled a few steps ahead of him. "I wonder what happened between Kagome-san and Hojo." He looked back, his eyes twinkling mischievously. "Don't you?"

Inuyasha only glowered. "Actually, I don't," he said with an irritated smile. "I'm more interested in something else."

"Oh? What is it?"

"Like using your head for a punching bag." It would be a really nice idea, actually, and not to mention a rather creative one, too. Inuyasha hadn't minded arts and crafts when he was younger, so maybe he could string the bastard upside down and hang him from the ceiling….

Miroku had the decency to look surprised. "Why would you do that? I only come bearing the intention of trying to figure out wha—"

"Oh shut the fuck up," he snapped, looking extremely put out. "You led me to the wrong place on Saturday, you sonofabitch." Miroku blinked. "The party at that something-guchi guy's place?"

Inuyasha reveled as recognition dawned on the idiot. "Oh, you mean—_oh_."

"Don't 'oh' me." He stepped away from the wall and took an started to advance towards the captain instead. "You're going to be a fucking hen after this…."

"Now wait a minute, it wasn't my fault my cell phone died," Miroku insisted in a conciliatory manner. "Don't you think I would have called you back or something?"

"Why didn't you use the home phone?"

"Oh yeah, because I memorized your phone number," he bit back, and it was the first time Inuyasha heard Miroku use a sarcastic tone. So it would have been kind of creepy if the captain _did_ know his cell phone by heart, but he wasn't willing to let the idiot off, not when he had to—

"Yeah? Well, your retarded directions led me to some weird town, and I ended up picking litter from the ground for the rest of the fucking night," he all but spat, and Inuyasha felt slightly better when the captain furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. _I hope you feel guilty, you bastard._

"Why would you do that?"

"Because some bitch decided that it was my fault I tripped over _her_ stupid trash can," Inuyasha replied huffily, and the anger started to direct elsewhere. Goddamn, he couldn't stay mad long, could he?

Miroku was _very_ intrigued now. "Who was the lady? Do you know her?"

He shook his head, a little sneer forming. "Her name was Kikyo, and she ran some weird antique shop." It looked like one, anyways, from all the vases he saw in the front window. "Fucking rude as hell."

Miroku didn't get a chance to interrogate any further, because the lead coach called him suddenly. "All right, I'll see you later. And I'm really sorry, by the way, for my 'retarded' directions leading you to meet a shrew like her."

"Who said anything about her being a shrew? Don't they have to be smart first?"

He laughed, his voice already beginning to fade out. "She must be pretty clever, then, if she could get you to pick up her trash without lifting a finger." By the time Inuyasha turned around to retort angrily, he was already halfway across the gymnasium. No wonder he was the captain of the baseball team.

_He's still a bastard though._

-


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Second Base

**A/N:** So. Stressed. So. Many. Powerpoints! I want to write more original story, but I think I can only write during the weekends for that.

Spots. Before. My. Eyes!

**Disclaimer:** A;SLDFKAJSFDASFL;.

* * *

**Chapter 18: Second Base**

_Nghi_

* * *

Inuyasha skulked all the way home, slouching and shuffling from intersection to intersection until he was walking down the nice, quiet neighborhood that was oh-so familiar again. Both the girl's and boy's baseball teams ended around the same time, and he thought he heard Kagome being dismissed early. He could therefore safely conclude that she would be home already. It generally was a good thing, because then he didn't have to see her face… or her boyfriend's face, either.

The damn kid was glowing throughout all of practice, and although it annoyed the fuck out of him, he was curious. What had Kagome said to Hojo exactly? She wasn't the type of person who went out and promised kinky stuff with boys, and Inuyasha could definitely bet darling Kaoru for that. Kagome just wasn't like that—too focused, too driven, too annoying, and most of all, too—too _tough_ to crack underneath peer pressure.

Not that Hojo was a dirty, little pervert in training, either. Inuyasha kicked at a rock and watched it skid across the black pavement. The loser was like a little boy; give him a lollipop, and he'd be on cloud fucking nine for the rest of the day, which goes to show how easily pleased he was. _So was that it?_ Inuyasha arched an eyebrow, trying to think of other things that would make a spineless wimp happy. Maybe an autographed baseball like Sesshoumaru had gotten all those years ago? Or how about… a new shirt or something? Did Hojo even like that kind of stuff?

_Sure he does._ He still remembered the boy bragging about the sweater his grandmother had _knitted_ for him. Inuyasha didn't know about other people, but he wouldn't be caught wearing family-made shit like that. Maybe a much-loved heirloom or something, like a jacket, but a knitted sweater? Way too much to ask right there.

"Guess the world will never know," he said with a light shrug, and he rounded up the driveway. A silver van was parked there, a sign that Kaoru was home. Inuyasha didn't know why she still kept that thing around when she could have just traded it in for the latest model. Why keep a battered thing of a car when you could get the latest import from some distant European country? The faster, the better, in his opinion, and he had said that to her once, a few years ago. She had laughed and patted his head affectionately, like he was some small child.

_Not a child. Note the adult face._

Inuyasha fumbled around the keys for a bit before successfully unlocking the front door and letting himself in. It wasn't a bad day, so he had no reason to slam the door. "Kaoru?" he called, although he didn't really mean it to anyone in particular. Sure, it was his mother's name, but it's not like he wanted her to materialize beside him with a caring demeanor or anything. It had been _quite_ a while since she had done that, actually, and starting it up again would only be uncomfortable as well as slightly humiliating. He was eighteen, and he did _not_ need to be babied by anyone.

Inuyasha didn't expect anyone to answer him back, and he was right. No "welcome home" or "hello" or "Inuyasha". The other time when she had appeared by the steps was weird. She never came out of her bedroom for any reason, so he had no idea why she would suddenly fancy welcoming her son home. Not like she had been doing it for the past few years, anyways.

He kicked his shoes into a messy pile by the door and shrugged his bag onto the floor. It was time to get to the baseball field again, to work on batting again. He had come a long way from his "spaghetti arms" days, and it was a rather good grip on the metal, too, with the _correct_ hand position this time. But still… there was _always_ room for improvement.

Inuyasha was halfway up the stairs when Kaoru's voice floated down from—somewhere. He guessed it was outside on the patio or something. "Inuyasha?" she called, and he froze mid-step. "Inuyasha? Is that you?" There was noise now, and she had definitely been on the back porch, because there was the annoying whine of the back door scraping, and then she flounced in, looking perky in her yellow sundress and black sunglasses.

He wasn't fashion conscious, but someone needed to tell the woman that no sane being on earth with working color vision would even _think_ about choosing that neon-looking outfit. It was blinding him, actually, but he didn't say that, of course, because he wasn't _rude_ or anything.

"How was school?" she asked airily, with a smile, and Inuyasha knew something had gone down. No way, _no way_ could his mother just suddenly pick up a book on family rearing, or one of those healthy living magazines, either. "Well?" she prodded, arching a thin eyebrow, and he snapped out of it long enough to shrug his shoulders. Kaoru sighed; there was no getting to her son. "Is that the only thing you can say now?"

He shrugged and started trotting up the stairs, but she stopped him again. "Wait, aren't you going to ask me how my day was?"

_Oh, so it's the emotional support_. It wasn't an uncommon thing, and it was all the more reason why InuTaisho should drop whatever project he was working on and come back home to give a little TLC to the clingy wife of his. By the time Inuyasha was emotionally mature enough, he had apparently started to give free "therapeutic" sessions to his mother, which often came in the form of sharing emotions. He had thought he had known all there was to female emotion depth; after all, the crying when Kagome's appendix had exploded seven years ago was one of the foremost examples that stood out in his mind. He had thought that his childhood had explored the caverns of feelings, and although he couldn't handle crying, he could certainly tolerate a few hours' worth of, quite frankly, verbal diarrhea. Besides, he was one of the leading players on the baseball team, and he was in quite the shape of his life—how hard was it to handle a few moments of female blubbering? He remembered thinking, internally _boasting_ that there was nothing he couldn't manage the first time Kaoru had come running to him with all her troubles and insecurities. _Tch. I can handle this, I can handle this. It's like learning how to run—you learn once, and you do the same thing all over again every time._ He was ready, he was prepared, he was a _man_ willing to take his absent father's place. _Nothing_ in the world could scare him off.

Two hours later, a fourteen-year-old Inuyasha had stumbled out of his bedroom, looking very much frazzled and nervous. The crying! The tears! The snot running everywhere! It was a messy experience, not to mention Kaoru had a nasty habit of twisting things with her hands whenever she expelled huge amounts of emotions.

He had learned very quickly after that dealing with female emotions was _not_ like jogging in the park, where the path was set and definitive. For some strange reasons, females failed to comprehend the _logical_ solution and always ended up on someone's shoulders with chips the size of a block on their shoulders. Or all the females that he had met, anyways; this included Kaoru and Kagome, and sometimes Ayumi, although he admired the last one more for her ability to at least _try_ and not dump a truckload of feelings and mushiness everywhere _all the time_.

If anything, sentiment was like a curveball: unpredictable and crazy, and sometimes it'll knock you right out of the field. Right now was one of them, and he blinked at Kaoru, as if she was crazy. Was this about her feeling inadequate as a parent again? "You look fine," Inuyasha finally settled on, and he managed to get in a wonderful two more steps before a different voice echoed from outside.

"Mrs. Furiko, is everything all right?"

Kaoru didn't snap her attention away from him for a moment, but she somehow managed to change the pitch of her voice so that it would sound perky and cute and nice and… everything she really wasn't. _Fake_, he thought, a dark cloud beginning to form over his head. Why couldn't she be a little more real about how she was feeling? Oh well, it didn't matter; he had to go practice some more in his baseball field. "Oh, I'm fine. I'm just getting some more tea. I'll be out in a moment."

"Who's that?" Inuyasha couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, that's—"

"Do you want me to help?" Even though it was a question, the door slid open, and there were a few, dainty clacks on the floor before the person reached the doorway. "I thought the kit—" Her eyes widened marginally as she took in the boy.

Well, it wasn't like he could have told her off for being so rude, because Inuyasha's expression was no better. In contrast to her small, slightly bemused expression, his eyes had widened comically, almost in an exaggerated fashion, and his mouth dropped open to say something. How was it that the _Kikyo_ bitch was in his house right now? "What are _you_ doing here?" he demanded, and his eye twitched ever so slightly. _Apple skins. Garbage hell. Smelled like a fucking pig afterwards. I ruined my shirt for that bitch!_

Kikyo leveled him with a cool gaze, and when she spoke, it was even cooler. "I could say the same for you, but you then again, you probably live here, right?" He fumed, not knowing what to say. Three seconds, and the bitch had already knocked him down. It was like an ultimate nightmare—someone who was better at being Kagome than Kagome herself had finally existed.

Kaoru, for the most part, was clueless. "You two know each other?" she asked with a note of interest, and her eyes ping-ponged between the two like some sort of tennis match. He guessed she wanted an answer, because all three stood there for some time before Kikyo opened her mouth.

Correction: she started talking before _he_ could, and thus resulting a smoother result. "We've met once or twice before," she replied, a small smirk lifting at the corners of her mouth. Kikyo had been staring at him the entire time, and God was she good at it. The back of his neck pricked uncomfortably, but he held his stare anyways; he was _not_, _not_, _not_ going to let this sophisticated dog get the best of him!

"Oh really? Where?"

"For Chrissakes, does it matter?" Inuyasha suddenly snapped, and Kaoru leaned back, stricken for a moment before she regained her senses just as quickly. Her son… was _yelling_ at her? In _her_ own house? While there were _guests_?

"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, darling," she bit sarcastically, and he had the decency to avert his eyes from her scolding. At least he was graceful enough to look humiliated by his own rudeness… or by the fact that he was still whipped by his own mother. Either one worked, and she didn't care which one it was at the moment—just like old times, sort of, before InuTaisho had to go on business trips all the time and she had to stay home all the time and Inuyasha had to stay away all the time.

"Why is _she_ here?" Inuyasha asked pointedly, resuming his go-away-Kikyo stare and ignoring his mother's comment. She must have been impervious or really, really thick-skinned, because she was still standing there, absorbing in all the death rays like some kind of sun-tanning freak. Sure, it may have been a little hostile of him to feel such intense dislike for someone he barely knew, but it was well worth it. Besides forcing him to pick up her trash, there was just this _thing_ about her that drove him up the side of the wall. It was a first impression kind of thing, and he did _not_ get a good impression of that sophisticated bitch. _Sophisticated—ha! More like-like—unsophisticated bitch._

She wasn't willing to back down like all the other people. Kikyo held her chin high, and her mouth pulled into a distasteful frown, like she was _belittling_ him or something. Was his stare working? Why wasn't it working? Why wasn't she running out of the house and declaring war on his property? Why was she crossing her arms? Why was she opening her mouth? Why was—

"I'm here because your mother hired me," Kikyo answered, blinking in a nonplussed fashion, and Inuyasha was taken aback. _That_ was it? _That_ was all she had to say, after he just melted two holes in the middle of her forehead? _That_ was it? "Your mother hired me"?

In all honesty, Inuyasha was rightly justified in saying aloud, "What the fuck?"

Kaoru slapped him on the shoulders playfully—_very_ playfully—, her annoyed demeanor replaced by forced joviality. "Oh, you have to ignore him sometimes," she said with the fakest smile he had ever seen, "My son just can't control himself sometimes. It's college and everything, if you must know. Gaining entrance and everything."

Kikyo nodded with the worst case of apathy he had ever seen. She was like a carbon copy of Sesshoumaru, with her poker face and everything. Besides his family and Miroku, the only person who could ever hold up to him was—

And then it hit him, why the girl was like a gum to his shoe, and why he always felt like she was a nuisance, a clichéd pain in the ass. Because the only person who could equally match him in terms of stubbornness was Kagome. Except for that last time at the baseball field, which didn't count. But other than that, she was a pretty strong-headed person, and Kikyo was eerily similar to her in that aspect, except in a more sophisticated (He needed a new word.) and less hissy-fit kind of way.

But that was it, of course. The hair, the clothes, the rest of her personality—complete contrast, which didn't necessarily make it any better, because she was still the one who made him pick up stinking trash in the middle of the night.

Apparently, this was a much bigger discovery than he thought, and not mention _absolutely mind-blowing_ because by the time he had finished absorbing the fact that Kikyo had only irked him because of her quiet stubbornness, he could only catch the last of her sentences. "—good in college."

_Um, what?_ Inuyasha blinked slowly but not deliberately, because he really didn't know what was going on, so poor Kaoru jumped in.

"Come on, then, we'll leave you to your work." She waved cheerfully at him and turned around, tugging Kikyo's wrist. "Let's go into the dining room, and you tell me more about your experiences at Todai University, because at least _I'm_ interested." Oh, so she was a college girl. Whoop dee-fucking-doo. If _that_ was what he had missed, Inuyasha wasn't sure if he wanted to hear what she had said those other sentences preceding that detail.

But still, there was something about her that made him curious. Namely, _why the fuck was she still in his house exactly?_ "Oi, why _are_ you here?" he called out, trailing after them.

The two women stopped, and Kikyo opened her mouth. Duh, she was _always_ the first to open it. "Excuse me?"

He ignored Kaoru's cutthroat glower and repeated himself. "Why are you here?"

"Because I was hired?"

His _own_ mother burst out laughing, her giggling tinkling merrily. "You're very witty, you know that?" Kikyo nodded sharply, gracefully, and the stupid smirk was on her face again, like some dirt stain on his shirt. When had the two become such good buddies? And when had they decided that making his life hell was a fun bonding experience?

Inuyasha clenched his fist and willed himself not to pick up the nearest vase and wedge it into the girl's skull. How—infuriating! Forget Kagome; when was the last time he had felt such violent inclinations toward a single, human being? Oh yeah, only _seven years ago_, with the whole hospital and kidney fiasco. It was the closest he had come to choking an invalid, and truthfully, she had been his enemy/acquaintance/enequaintance for so long that Kagome sort of became a friend. In a twisted way, of course. But an enemy wouldn't let someone else sleep in her room, or somewhat respect him enough to not ask questions about his family, or let him pilfer her refrigerator when dinner was too horrible to handle at his home.

If Kagome wasn't a friend, and she wasn't an enemy, then what was she? Wait… he didn't know for _sure_ if she was a friend or not, but Inuyasha definitely knew that he didn't view her as someone who could potentially knock him off his throne anymore. Or his baseball field, anyways. Because the position of adversary went to the girl in front of him, the girl whom his mother hired for-for _something_.

"Get the fuck out," Inuyasha growled more out of frustration than anything, and Kaoru gasped in offense. He was expecting Kikyo to do the same and then stomp away. Or twist her face into the ugly sneer that most girls, like Kagome, did and then shoot back something nasty. Or just give him a cool, calculated look like what she usually does half the time.

It turns out that Kaoru was offended for the both of them, because Kikyo was still smiling and shaking her head. "I can't," she answered softly, "I'm supposed to redecorate your home." Knowing look. "Unless you want blank spots across your walls."

"You're a construction worker?" OK, he was confused now. A house toucher-upper? In _those_ clothes? _No way._

"You stupid boy," Kaoru muttered, and he involuntarily twitched; it was the remnant from his childhood, the leftover from his trademark wince whenever he landed himself into too much trouble. "Kikyo helps her grandfather run his business. She sells antiques and interesting artifacts. And don't give me that look, like I'm wasting money or something." She sniffed. "It's to help replace the ones I dropped by accident on Saturday, if you must know."

Inuyasha sobered quickly. It hadn't been an "accident", but whatever floats her boat. He just went along for the ride, willingly or not. Kikyo looked at him curiously, and he ignored her. What a fly. "Oh, that's it?"

"Yes, that's _it_. Now do go practice your baseball or something, because we girls have a lot to talk about." Inuyasha wanted _so_ badly to point out that Kaoru was approaching closer to old-fart age than anything, but he wisely shut his trap and just shrugged, pivoting on his heel and stalking off.

Hey, if she wanted him out of here and hitting home runs, who was to complain?

"I'm so sorry you had to see that," Kaoru apologized sincerely, and Kikyo shrugged, already forgetting about it. Boys would be boys, after all. "Inuyasha has just been really stressed lately, but he has no right to talk to anyone like, especially to a darling like you."

"It's all right, Mrs. Furiko. I would be wary, too, if a stranger had appeared in my house for no reason." She glanced lightly at her fingernails. They were a bit too long, and she didn't like that very much; it often stopped her from handling delicate objects carefully. Even though the color was absolutely adorable, Kikyo just couldn't afford dropping vase and losing business prospects.

The lady shook her head fiercely, her light brown hair whipping about. She must have been very pretty when she was young. "I don't want you to feel bad about him. He's been feeling under the weather lately, and I _honestly_ don't know what is the matter with him. He was always enthusiastic as a kid, but now…." Kaoru trailed off, sighing tiredly, and Kikyo felt a small pang of sympathy.

"I think boys go through this stage at one point or another," she said with a reassuring nod. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he will come around sooner or later. Patience is a key virtue, after all." It _had_ been rather fun watching him splutter over her clever remarks, hadn't it? It was almost endearing, just like the night when he had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he had ended up tripping over her trashcan. It wasn't even hidden in the shadows, either-!

And not to mention no one had ever responded to her in such a snappish way, either. It was kind of entertaining, and she always appreciated any form of amusement that came her way. Her life was just one cycle of cycles. That was all it was, constant repetition. The boys were no fun, the schoolwork was no fun, and the business was no fun.

But he was.

"Oh, I wish Inuyasha was as charismatic as you," Kaoru said, already a smile lighting up her features again, and Kikyo nodded amiably. But she disagreed—_really_ disagreed.

What was the point if no one had an opinion?

-


	20. Chapter Nineteen: Second Base

**A/N:** I see… three or four chapters left of Second Base. And then Third Base. (YESYESYES.)

_What the hell is taking you so long?_

Final exams and projects, followed by Asia hopping. But now that I'm back for the rest of summer, I see college essays and applications, senior year, and AP homework for the future. :D Oh, and my original story, of course. But I'm trying, of course.

**Disclaimer:** I am a senior, so therefore I have seniority now. But does Takahashi care? I don't think so. :(

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: Second Base**

_Nghi_

* * *

Tuesday came and went, and before she knew it, Kagome was lying on her bed Wednesday evening. She blinked up at the ceiling and sighed. There were still two, undeveloped cracks up there, and she doubted they would change any time soon. Was her house always this boring? Had she always felt _this_ bored out of her skull? Baseball practice had been cancelled because of another dispute between the history and physical education departments, and she had been forced to go home early. Luckily, there weren't any horrible surprises waiting for her; Ayumi was still at work doing God-knows-what, and Souta was playing soccer with the rest of his classmates after school. That meant she had a few free hours to herself, to enjoy and do whatever the hell she wanted.

The problem was, what else was there to do?

"I didn't know my life was _this_ monotonous," Kagome groaned, and she buried her head into her pillow with a yawn. Baseball, family problems, baseball, family problems, etc. It just went on and on like that. And for once in her life, when she needed Hojo to entertain her, he had to attend to some family dinner. So he was a no go to—and what was up with the whole one or the other thing? It was either train yourself, or get into trouble, and Kagome didn't think she liked either of her choices. Truth be told, baseball was starting to wear her down, and she didn't like that. She wanted the sport to be—well, a hobby, not a form of work like school. If there wasn't some crisis or drama going on, then she would be hitting the field and practicing.

Well, Kagome was sick of it today; she wanted to do something different, something _spontaneous_, for a change, something that wouldn't involve getting her hands dirty. "Let's see," she mumbled, rolling onto her side and picking up the phone from the floor. Her hand automatically hand-dialed Eri's number, and she waited the full ten rings before the answering machine kicked in.

"_Eri here, but she's not home. She's somewhere doing fun stuff without—_"

Kagome shut off the phone and tried Yuka instead.

"_Yuka is off with Kagome and Eri doing fun stuff—_"

Kagome shut her off, too. So her two closest friends were busy. What an inconvenience.

"I am _so_ bored!" she exclaimed enthusiastically, dropping the telephone onto the floor. So this was what she was reduced to: talking to herself in her room. How pathetic and slightly insane. "Should I travel over to the old baseball field and—" She didn't finish that sentence, because really, when had hanging out with Inuyasha ever been a _fun_ thing to do? Sure, he actually _listened_ to her a while back, and he helped her with some things, but it wasn't like they were actually friends or anything. Kagome didn't think he even thought of her along those lines at all. Well, why would he? It wasn't like she did anything for him that would make her a friend in his eyes… except feed him and give him a bed whenever he came over. But didn't that make her more of a-a—landlord or something? Or like a benefactress of some sort?

The thought was slightly depressing because let's face it—it's been seven years, and they're about to leave for college now. Kagome hadn't had the chance to talk to Kaoru in a while, so she didn't know what college Inuyasha would be going to. He had been her neighbor for so long, and it would be such a pity to leave on bad terms. Not that there were terms to begin with, anyways, but wouldn't it be a much better idea to leave home with a friend instead of a formal acquaintance?

It's not like she wanted them to marry or anything, but… he had grown on her. Even though they had just recently started talking and everything, Inuyasha had been a part of the rest of her childhood, whether she wanted it or not, and it would have been a shame if he didn't see their unique relationship as something more.

_Like friends, of course._ God, that sounded so-so wrong. _It's not like I like him or anything._ Duh, that was a given. She was going out with Hojo, wasn't she? For crying out loud, they hadn't even progressed to the friend level, which was what she was internally whining about. They needed to be friends or something before they parted ways, not because friends liked-liked each other, but just a plain, normal liked that's most common among other people. After all, don't you need to like a person before you become friends with him? Did Kagome like him? Well enough. But the question was, did he like her?

…In a friends sort of way, of course.

….

Now that the thought was put out into the open (inside her mind?), Kagome couldn't help but think: what _if_ she liked Inuyasha more than just as acquaintances? Possibly more as—maybe—?

….

….

She burst out laughing, a true snicker in a long time. "Me? Like _him_?" she said aloud in between giggles, "Ho, good one there!" It was the stress getting to her, for real, because _why_ on earth would a man-boy elf thing be considered good boyfriend material? And another thing, they hadn't been talking until recently, too! Kagome guffawed loudly and nearly fell off the bed. Talk about opposites, too. He was way too hotheaded to settle down, and she didn't think he had ever had a girlfriend before. Inuyasha was way too focused on baseball, and there was no way he could ever marry if he carried on his sole focus like this. _I mean, how is she going to feel, knowing she's second place to baseball for the rest of her life?_ She didn't think there was _anyone_ out there who could match his love for baseball, so what made her so special? "_That_ was a useless five minutes of my life," Kagome chortled before rolling off her bed and shuffling out of the door.

Never mind the fact her ears were tinged a lovely red, her neck a little prickly, and her stomach a little more uncomfortable than usual. (It was because she was… hungry. Yeah.) She needed something to eat now, because apparently everyone had decided to never come home again.

The minute she left her room the door downstairs shut loudly, and there was the sound of several coats rustling. "Kagome?" Ayumi called up a few moments later, and she guessed that her mom had seen the backpack and shoes lying by the entrance.

_I've got to learn to keep my mess in my own room_, Kagome thought with a sigh. "Kagome?" the woman's voice floated up again, and she had no choice but to answer.

"Yeah, I'm here." Her walk slowed into a shuffle, and then just plain, lazy plodding. Things were still uncomfortable between the two of them, even though Ayumi had been trying really hard, and Kagome had been trying to avoid conflict. Like now. Actually, she was just trying to avoid discomfort in general, and her mother was a walking UNEASY sign. Ignoring the problem never did solve anything, so Kagome was doing the opposite of that: facing it. The only thing was, it didn't seem to fix anything, either.

How was that for a setback?

"Sorry for being late—I was picking up Souta from soccer," Ayumi explained conversationally, very normally as she put the coat on the racket.

"Oh." That… was great? Kagome was nearing the staircase now and, if possible, slowed to a stagnated walk. Meaning she stopped walking. Just prolong a _little_ more-! She could already feel those last, few minutes of peace slipping from her grasp already.

"So I was thinking that we could have—whatever you want for dinner tonight!" her mother exclaimed heartily, and she looked upstairs. "Oh, Kagome, you're going to hurt yourself if you keep walking around blindly in the dark!" She flicked on the lights. "Remember the last time you stubbed your toe and was called out from the game?"

…Yes, of _course_ Kagome remembered, considering that a baseball scout had been there, and she had missed the chance. It was heartbreaking, but she had managed to move past it. But never mind that. Ayumi hadn't asked her what she had wanted for dinner in about a year, and that was on account of her birthday; most of the time it was just fish and rice. Kagome quickly went through all the important dates in her head: Souta's birthday? Nope. Ayumi's birthday? Nope. Her birthday? Far from it. Inuyasha's birthday? Didn't even know when his was. The Emperor's birthday? Nope. Grandpa's funeral anniversary? Too depressing to enjoy the meal. Dad's funeral anniversary? She didn't even think anyone remembered anymore, but it wasn't today, either.

So what was so special about today?

"I don't… care," Kagome answered slowly, still confused by the sudden turnaround in the personality. "But why are you cooking today? Usually we just have leftovers from the weekend." Cold, but not necessarily nasty.

She started down the first step and caught a peek of Ayumi's black pumps by the door. Then suddenly her mom's face popped into view, peeking from behind the banister, and she was smiling cheerily. "Oh, glad you could come down!" She motioned for Kagome to come down faster. "Go sit at the table with Souta! We're having sushi today, is that all right with you?" Then she vanished just as quickly, leaving Kagome even more baffled. Just _what_ had been in her tea this morning?

"Wait, what's going on? You didn't answer my question!" she exclaimed, walking down the rest of the stairs. Ayumi had just disappeared behind the corner of the living room. "What's the eve—"

Kagome trailed off as she stopped in front of the dining room entrance. Yamaguchi was sitting there nervously, his hands playing around with a napkin. He smiled widely, placidly enough, and somehow he was able to free one of those shaky hands to give her an even shakier wave. "Uh, he-hello?" It was kind of funny, the way Yamaguchi even managed to turn a greeting into a question. Like "Is it offensive if I say hi?" In most normal circumstances, Kagome would have just giggled and made him feel at home. Say something like, "My name's Kagome, and it's very nice to meet you", or "I like your tie. It's a really unique color". Anything that could start a conversation and set them off on a good foot.

But this wasn't an average situation, now was it?

It was frightening for the poor man, since she wasn't saying anything, and all he could do was swallow hard and plaster that anxious smile across his face. For crying out loud, Kagome was still trying to mend things up with Ayumi! What made her think that she was ready for any kind of meeting with her boyfriend?

Ayumi entered at this point, attempting to tie on the apron. "Oh, so you've finally come down," she commented. "Souta's in the kitchen right now, chopping up the vegetables and such. Do you want to help, or do you want to sit here and talk to Yamaguchi-kun?" Kagome didn't miss the way her mother spoke his name. Or the way she was "casually" suggesting things. _So this is what the whole thing's about_. The whole cheerful face, asking what she wanted to eat—it was all a big, fat trap, Ayumi's way of pushing her towards something she wasn't ready to accept. Not yet, not when everything was too raw and new in her mind. And it was sad that Kagome knew that Ayumi couldn't date Yamaguchi with a peace of mind, knowing that her daughter was against it. _No, not against it_, she corrected herself, _just not ready to accept it_. There was a big difference. Was her mother really _that_ impatient as to try and set up a dinner date between her boyfriend and her family? Souta may have been indifferent about it, but he was still too young to fully comprehend the situation. Ayumi was—well, she was dating him, so that was a given. That left Kagome, and she just wasn't _ready_.

How incredibly selfish of her mother.

Presently the said woman's smile began to falter. "Kagome?"

"May-Maybe I should go…." Yamaguchi trailed off and made to stand up. He was cracking under the pressure, and it was obvious that Ayumi had told him about her.

"No, no," Ayumi insisted, looking behind Kagome to give him a placating smile. "Just sit down and relax. She's just—stressed from school and such." _What a lie._ "Kagome, let's go into the kitchen for a bit, OK? We'll have this sorted this out in no time."

"I don't know," Yamaguchi said, looking terribly unsure. He was hovering above the seat now. "Thank you for inviting me, Higurashi-san—" It sounded very much like what Hojo would say. "But I think there was another event to attend to—"

"Excuse me, Yamaguchi-kun," Kagome interjected shortly, still facing her mom. She didn't need to say anything to the woman, because Ayumi looked down first, her clasped hands a little whiter than usual. "But please stay a little longer, at least until dinner is over." Her voice was controlled and tight, and she liked it that way. At least it covered up the disgust she felt inside. Ayumi wasn't stupid—she knew, and she cleared her throat before turning quietly back into the kitchen.

The man was a tad on the dull side, and he happily sat down at her request, regardless of her voice. Or maybe he _did_ know how she was feeling but just chose to turn the other cheek. Whatever it was, Yamaguchi complied, and, after her mother returned to the stove, Kagome turned around to sit with him.

"So," he began, still smiling. "How is school?"

"I'm doing fine." His hair was combed back meticulously, exposing his wide forehead and his bushy eyebrows. His eyes squinted as he looked through his eyeglasses, and his teeth were slightly uneven. (But she _did_ like his suit. It was very professional and very nice.)

Yamaguchi sounded polite and pleasant to get along with. It was just too bad that she could never see past his first impression: naked in her mom's bed.

-

"This is really good sushi," Yamaguchi complimented, picking one out of the dish. Ayumi beamed. "You're a fantastic cook, and I don't know why you've never thought about opening a restaurant before. You're much better at preparing food than typing." He flushed immediately. "Not that you are bad at your job or anything, Ayumi. It's just that—"

"It's all right. I still have problems turning on the computer." She giggled, _obviously_ amused, and Yamaguchi visibly relaxed, laughing along throatily. Souta smiled briefly, for lack of better emotion; he was more focused on the eating part, really, and Kagome was trying with _all_ her might to follow his example.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw her mom squeeze his hand briefly, and Kagome wanted nothing more than to leave the dining room. She couldn't stop them because it really wasn't her choice on whom Ayumi chose to like, and Yamaguchi seemed a nice enough guy. Kagome just didn't want to see them in action, doing things that other young people do when they were in love. She preferred to see them as-as single, individual people rather than as a pair, a couple.

"So Kagome." She started at hearing her name and looked up to find Ayumi glancing at her. "When is your next baseball game?"

_Since when did you give two cents about it?_ It was a horrible thought, but it was true. Even with her husband alive, Ayumi had never really encouraged or helped Kagome to continue with her hobby. With the death of her father, Grandpa had taken it as his mission to foster her ability, to push her to become a better player because he _saw_ the talent she had, the passion she held for the sport. And where was her mother this entire time? Telling Grandpa to teach baseball to Souta when he was older (He didn't even like the sport!), scolding him to stop encouraging such "boyish" behavior.

So it wasn't like Kagome was _completely_ resentful towards her mother for no reason. But she guessed Ayumi was taking some false interest because of Yamaguchi, to either show off her daughter or pretend she liked what he liked, too. Or maybe she just wanted a nice, family dinner with some added conversation. Kagome wasn't sure which one it was, so she gave her mom the benefit of the doubt.

_Maybe this is selfish of her, but I don't have to make it painful for everyone. It's not like I want to make it difficult._

"I think some time next Tuesday."

Ayumi clapped her hands together. "That's perfect! This Tuesday also happens to be a company day-off! Right, Yamaguchi?"

"Yep! Maybe I can come to your game…?" He trailed off, a hopeful look in his eyes, and Kagome _knew_ what this was all about: pushing more family time with the new man.

So much for giving the benefit of the doubt.

But she wasn't going to explode or throw a fit, because Yamaguchi _was_ a guest, after all, and Kagome would be damned if he went home that night with the wrong impression of her. She wasn't spoiled, and she wasn't intolerant of new people; she just needed time to take it all in, to sort it out in her head one piece at a time. And Ayumi wasn't doing much help except cramming it in all at once.

So Kagome just smiled instead, albeit a tight one. "Sure." The event, the whole dining experience with Yamaguchi, was becoming _just_ a little too much for her to handle, and suddenly the thought of eating anything made her stomach turn and flip uncomfortably. "Excuse me," she said, standing up. Never mind the napkin that had been on her lap was lying on the floor now.

"Huh? Where are you going?"

"I don't feel good, so I'm going up to my room." Ayumi didn't say anything to that, and Kagome was glad, because it was becoming clear that every topic that her mom brought up would have the intent of setting up some family date with the new person in her life.

Closing the door, Kagome sighed in frustration and closed her eyes. She had to restrain herself from lashing out, because it wouldn't do any good if Yamaguchi heard strange noises coming from above. But it was hard, because she was _so_… angry? Furious? Disappointed? It was a mix of too many emotions at once, and Kagome couldn't handle how her mom could think that a few days was all it took for her to get used to the new addition in their lives.

_Yeah, because I can completely overlook my first encounter with Yamaguchi._ Kagome didn't feel like crying her heart out, because the occasion didn't merit for it; he was too nice, and that made her feel all the worse for having such an unspoken grudge against him. But she _was_ angry about the way her mom was acting, and it didn't do well to quell it, because that was all she would be doing: suppressing it. And eventually, the coil was going to spring up, and things would just fall apart again. The relationship was already tenuous, so why agitate it? What good would it do if she went down there and confronted Ayumi about the way she was acting? Maybe Kagome could quietly talk to her mother and tell her that things were moving way too fast, but how would she take it? And how would she tell Yamaguchi? That "Oh, my daughter doesn't want to be friends or talk to you for a while"? Kagome didn't want to hurt his feelings, and she doubted her mom would word it that way.

But Kagome couldn't but feel a little left out, because Souta didn't seem to mind, Yamaguchi was eager to befriend her, and Ayumi just wanted everyone to get along. At her pace. It was like _she_ was the only one who saw how fast everything was going; no one else seemed to notice, or if any did, just went along with it, like it was _all right_ to not slow down and take everything in and try to figure out where to go from here.

The walls were beginning to move in closer, and she squeezed her eyes shut even more. There it was again—the dull rush of the blood in her ears. Kagome cleared her throat and shook her head, trying to calm down. OK, if no one wanted to think things through, then she would have to do it by herself.

…Which would be what again?

"Oh God, I'm losing it," she moaned, trying to focus on _anything_. Things were getting too complicated here. Or maybe she was making it too complicated. But Kagome didn't think so. How come no one else thought that this-this _thing_ between Yamaguchi and Ayumi was coming along too fast of a pace? Why was it only her who thought it like that?

And why was her room suddenly too small again?

Kagome snapped—all the questions running through her head and the seemingly claustrophobic bedroom were getting to her just like last time. She needed to get out _now_, or-or she would just do _something_, anything that would most likely make her regret it later on.

So she did the first thing she thought of: climbing out of the window.

-


	21. Chapter Twenty: Second Base

**A/N:** Oh, thank you **nekoblue**, **udontnome**, **kachan**, and **Roku8Cookie**. You've been pretty patient with my updating, so less talk, more chapter!

…OK, just to answer udontnome's question: _I read that Kagome dates Inuyasha as a model named Kikyo at the beginning of the story._

Nah. Kagome could never be a model because she was too busy trying to out-do Inuyasha at baseball. :D At the beginning of the story, she was in a café and saw Inuyasha on TV.

* * *

**Chapter 20: Second Base**

_Nghi_

* * *

Out of the many things she was good at, running away was _not_ one of them. The first time Kagome had left her house was a few days ago, and she had run to the baseball field then. _That_ should have been an indication of how well being a vagabond would work out for her, if the furthest she could run away to was a dilapidated field occupied by Inuyasha. 

So with that in mind, Kagome was currently out of the house with nowhere else to go. There was always the field, but since when did she find comfort in seeing her neighbor's face? She hadn't talked to him in a while, either, ever since she had thanked him. It was surprising, seeing that side of him—Kagome always had the suspicious notion that he would burst out laughing if he ever saw her crying and equally as broken as her family.

But he didn't. Strange, though, how he was the first person in a while to ever see her in such a hysterical frenzy. Kagome didn't like to be weak; she liked to stand up for herself, take things on in an affirmative manner, and solve problems by _applying_, not _denying_. She liked to look optimistic—whether she felt it or not was a different matter altogether, and it didn't matter, as long as the people around her were positive about the outlook on their lives. She wasn't an angry child, and she didn't hate anyone; Kagome's life was economically sound.

Having a house didn't mean her family life was doing well, though. Ayumi was trying too fast and too early, as characteristic of her impatient nature. She needed to learn to let things take their natural course; hopefully, Kagome would begin to accept Yamaguchi, but it wouldn't—no, _couldn't_ happen in two weeks, in three months, or in two years. And it certainly couldn't happen if Ayumi continued to fix play dates for everyone, like some form of deranged Cupid.

Which was why Kagome was crouched in front of the kitchen window, watching the dinner progress. Sure, the poor excuse for a rosebush was scratching her legs, and maybe she had to scuttle a few feet away every time that enormous spider in the corner so much as moved one of its legs, but anything was better than confronting the dinner table. It was definitely better to look in the window and watch them eating uncomfortably rather than partake in the permeating awkwardness. At least Yamaguchi wouldn't ask her any more questions about her school. At least Ayumi wouldn't rejoin for her. At least Souta wouldn't be off in his own, little world—well, actually, he still was, but at least she wouldn't feel like she was suffocating from too much ineffectual attention.

She was always terrible at running away, and this was just the icing on top. _I need to get lessons from someone one of these days_, she thought wryly, and Kagome squelched the spike of panic when the arachnid raised one of its legs lazily. The thing was more horrible than-than—

"What the hell are you doing?"

Surprised, Kagome got up so fast she tripped backwards into the rosebush, but she managed to catch herself from completely falling into the damn thing. "Shoot," she muttered, wincing as the thorns scraped her leg. So much for light scratching. She shot him a glare, gingerly touching her shin. "Why did you sneak up on me like that?"

"To see what you were doing," Inuyasha replied simply, as if it were the _most_ obvious thing in the world. "And what the hell _are_ you doing? Planning on robbing your own house?"

"Oh, you have such brilliant remarks," Kagome retorted, and she gave a small cry when she realized a few thorns had embedded themselves into her calf muscle. This shit was going to sting for a while. (But it wasn't going to affect her. She _refused_ to let it affect her.) "It's a wonder you even manage to tie your own shoes."

"Back to being a hissy cow, I see. But you still didn't answer my question: what the hell are you doing?"

Didn't he know how to phrase that question in any other way? Maybe it was his technique of cracking people open for information that didn't have anything to do with him. "Nothing that concerns yo—hey!" Inuyasha pushed her out of the way, and Kagome stumbled to the side, helpless as he _stuck his face into the window_. The kid was perfectly visible now, that idiot. "What the heck? My mom's going to see you!" She reached over and, grabbing his forearm, yanked him sideways with such strength that Inuyasha couldn't help but to comply, unless he wanted to end up on the ground with a concussion and a broken shoulder socket. (It also helped that he was balancing his duffel bag with the same arm she pulled.)

"The fuck? I was looking at what you were looking at!" Inuyasha hissed, glaring at her like she had done something terribly stupid, which was definitely the opposite because _she_ had just saved _his_ sorry ass from being caught by Ayumi!

"Yeah, and there was a _reason_ why I wasn't standing up and smearing my face against the pane!" Kagome whispered back, her eyes just _daring_ him to argue with the logic. The reasons for her actions were _so_ simple; so why the hell didn't Inuyasha pick any of these up immediately?

_Because he's stupid_, her initial thought piped up, and Kagome wanted to agree. Except she couldn't. (And why not?)

"Whatever, bitch." Inuyasha took his arm out of her grasp—had she been holding it the entire time?—and straightened his duffel bag with a small huff. "Why don't you try saying that before shoving people around?" And with a self-righteous pat, he swiveled around and started for his house.

But not before attempting to mash his face against the window again. Inuyasha laughed triumphantly when he zipped out of her grab, and he gave her a provoking smirk. "How's _that_ for being seen?" he asked cheekily before really turning around and leaving.

Kagome wanted to throttle him. How completely infuriating! She _told_ him Ayumi would notice the two if he kept doing that, and he still did it! (But she wasn't too mad.) Didn't he think for one second that if she wanted to go inside, she would have done it? Why would she elaborately set everything up like this? At times like this, he was absolutely-absolutely— (Endearing? Strangely funny?)

_What is wrong with me_? Since when did her thoughts soften around Inuyasha? (Since the baseball field.) Since when did she hold him in a slightly raised pedestal? (Since he saw her crying.) And by _God_ since when did he have nice shoulders, for that matter? (Since she watched him walking back to his house.) Suddenly, Ayumi's dinner didn't matter, Yamaguchi's existence didn't matter, and her bleeding legs didn't matter, because all Kagome could think was, _What. The. Hell_? And then there was an impulse, this urge to call out and try to make him stay. But stay for what exactly? Why would she even want that? He drove her up the walls and over the cliff and sometimes out of her mind, so why would she want to be around those sort of people? In a way, Inuyasha was like a little brother to her… except older. (Did that make sense? I don't think so, darling.) Souta was never the annoying type, because he was too busy trying to live his own—and Inuyasha gladly filled that spot for him, constantly bothering her and irritating her.

He was like that little boy who continually grated her nerves every time she came over to baby-sit. No, not like—Inuyasha probably visited the kid for lessons on how to annoy her. Because that was all he was, right? Maybe he had _some_ good qualities, but it couldn't override any of his bad ones, right? Because even if, _even if_ he had changed those past two, three years without her knowing, nothing would change between them, right? Because there wasn't _anything_ to begin with… right? (Yes, no, maybe so.)

"Can I stay over tonight?"

Inuyasha froze, and Kagome could feel her insides freezing up along with him, too. _Was that involuntarily? And out loud_? Then her organs weren't quite cold feet anymore; they had burst out of that ice cover and were now beginning to churn uncomfortably, all of them. Her hands clenched the edges of her school skirt tightly; her feet shifted back and forth; her stomach flip-flopped up and down gleefully; her heart tried to break her rib cage, which, by the way, was too small and too rigid to accommodate any of the commotion; the blood all rushed to her head, roaring loudly, and her cheeks flushed a royal red, although she was so thankful that he was the one standing in the moonlight and not her.

_Because we all know how much more embarrassing this could get._

He didn't say anything yet, and she was growing increasingly uncomfortable. Why wasn't he turning around and laughing at her? Or sneering at her? Why didn't he say anything? Why was he just standing there? Maybe he was waiting for an explanation, waiting for her to clarify by what she had meant when she had randomly blurted out a very personal favor.

"If I had a choice, I'd definitely stay in my house," Kagome started suddenly. _Anything_ to fill the awkward air. (Why was it awkward? He practically scaled the side of her house once a week!) "But it's just—my mom's hosting a dinner, and I don't want to be in the way of the guests." Most of it was true, anyways; it's not like he needed to know _who_ was there. It wasn't any of Inuyasha's business to begin with, so she had the right to skimp on that detail there.

Inuyasha still didn't say anything, and she rushed on. "If you're worried about me making a mess, don't worry. I don't need a bedroom or anything. Just a pillow and a blanket would do. You could even send me to the basement, and I wouldn't care." Actually, she did, but that was beside the point, wasn't it? "And it's just for one night. I wouldn't ask you again. It's a one-time thing." It couldn't hurt, right? Just this one time. Kagome didn't know what to do if he said no; staying inside the house was out of the question because she always relapsed into questionable bouts of insanity and claustrophobia. She couldn't breathe knowing that Ayumi and Souta were downstairs, associating themselves with someone who could easily enter their broken lives and fix it up. She couldn't breathe knowing that Yamaguchi was going to glue them back together with hardly an effort, like some destroyed puzzle set, while she did nothing but ruin it every, single time. She couldn't—

"Are you coming?" Inuyasha's voice interrupted her train of angst and woe, and Kagome started. He was on his own driveway now, looking at her expectantly. When had he walked away from her, during the few minutes she was thinking to herself? "If you'd rather sit there like a dumbass, then tell me now, because as _much_ as I enjoy watching you go through sixteen different kinds of emotions in a span of five minutes, I'm a bit behind in math."

Something heavy lifted from her stomach, and Kagome exhaled in relief. "Fine, sit there," Inuyasha muttered with a shrug, and he started slinking up the porch steps.

"Oh, don't be such a baby. It's not like you're going anywhere else," she replied promptly, and she almost laughed when he cast her a scathing look. Inuyasha was a rude idiot, there was no denying that.

But sometimes… he could be nice. (_It's not like she liked him any more than before. It was just a fact. A logical, unbiased fact. That was all it was._)

-

The first thing she heard when she stepped into his house was Kaoru ending her diatribe, which went something along the lines of: "—fucking bastard!" And then followed by plates smashing.

"Goddamn," Inuyasha swore underneath his breath, and he reached behind to grab her wrist. Kagome blinked, taken aback by such a forward display. What the—? (_Just ignore it! Ignore it ignore it for God's sakes ignore it!_)

She didn't have time to say anything, because he suddenly pulled her in front of him and, with slightly less tenderness, shoved her onto the first couple of steps. Only then, when Kagome almost tripped and smashed her cranium into the wooden steps, did she suddenly grasp control of the situation. "Hey, wait a minute," she began, gripping the railing for support. "_Don't_ push me like—"

"_Go_!" Inuyasha hissed, and he was too busy looking at the living room entrance, keeping watch in case if his mother came. Or that was what she supposed, anyways. Either way, Kagome snapped when she tripped on her foot and nearly took an eye out in the process. Climbing upstairs should _never_ be this hazardous for anyone, _especially_ for an athletic girl like her. "Jeez, can you do anything right?" He rolled his eyes and pulled her to her feet rather unceremoniously. How was it possible for someone to turn a supposedly kind gesture into such a rude one? (She underestimated his ability. Apparently baseball was doing wonders for his arms if he could lift her up like _that_.)

"OK, I understand that your mom is a little angry at God-knows-who right now, but let's try not to put a dent in my face, all right?" Kagome bit out, and Inuyasha was suddenly in her face, his eyes narrowed and not quite as nice as before.

"You know jackshit about what's going on, and if you want to stay here, then _move_," he hissed, and Kagome had no problem glaring back. Her mouth pursed in defiance, and she wanted to reach out and slap him for being such a general asshole. _And I thought you were kind of agreeable today_! Well, look what benefit of the doubt did to him.

Before she could reply cheekily about the situation, a voice floated downstairs, less shrill but equally livid. "Yes, because it's _so_ painful for you to put food on the table," the man mimicked, and Kagome recognized him as Inuyasha's seldom-seen father. _I can't believe he still comes home._ "You make out my life as if it terribly easy."

"Because you _do_! I don't see you making an effort to reach out to Inuyasha. When was the last time you called Sesshoumaru? Do you know what our boys are getting in school? For God's sake, do you know what last Saturday _was_?"

Mr. Furiko's lack of reply was more than enough. "I _thought_ so," Kaoru said scornfully. "I can't believe I even _entertained_ the idea of you taking a break from work just for two hours. _Two_ hours. Two goddamn hours. I left three messages on your 'cell phone', which isn't even one because you hardly pick up—"

"I don't see how that even pertains here. Isn't this enough? I'm financing the re-stocking of your—_our_ house." It was a bad slip-up, a very, very bad one.

"_My_ house? You think all of _this_—" There was a loud waterfall of breaking and crashing and shattering, drowning out Mr. Furiko's own roars. When there was nothing left to destroy, and he was still yelling, Kaoru screamed right back him. And she was louder, more passionate, _angrier_. "—How _dare_ you think these-these inane things could mean anything. How _dare_ you suggest that I put trivial possessions above my children! I should have guessed when you didn't show up to a simple anniversary dinner. I should have guessed then, that you didn't give a rat's ass about your family anymore—"

"That is _not_ true, and don't you fucking _dare_ put words and thoughts into my mouth, Kaoru!"

"Oh, I don't _need_ to put anything into anywhere, because you do a goddamn wonderful job with the way you're acting, thinking-thinking that gold and silver and imported china vases would shut me up about you _missing_ your own son's birthday."

His birthday had passed?

And before she could mull any of this over, the party was suddenly shifting. It was moving, clamoring and yelling and hissing and shrieking, and it was coming closer, nearer to them, and it was then Kagome realized, a little too late, that _Inuyasha's parents were migrating into the living room_.

Fortunately, Inuyasha comprehended this a lot earlier, and he hastily pushed her up the rest of the stairs, not even waiting for her feet to move properly. It was just a shove shove shove, and if you weren't walking, then you were shit out of luck because you were moving along whether you liked it or not. It was equivalent to getting your zipper stuck on the escalator, and there was nothing you could do about it.

He pushed her into his room and closed the door, just in time, because the noise was directly beneath them now. It was like living in a bubble, sealing off all noises. It was so different from her home, because she could hear everything.

Kagome wished her house was like that sometimes.

There was no awkward moment between the two, simply because there wasn't _time_. Inuyasha had work to do, and she was just here for a rest. Did she have homework? Probably. Had she finished? Most likely not. But at this point, Kagome was too shaken, too agitated by the events. _It looks like I didn't need Eri or Yuka to stir some excitement in the air,_ she thought grimly. The thought of going out and having fun was now a dim possibility, and it didn't produce that excited buzz underneath her skin anymore. Today had just zapped all the good out of everything.

Afterwards, everything moved in a blur for the two of them. She remembered sitting on his bed and watching as he ducked into the bathroom (Because they were wealthy like that.) and emerged with nothing more than a white shirt and knee-length boxers. She remembered being slightly embarrassed when he caught her and rolled his eyes before asking, "Do you want me to change or something?" She remembered shaking her head and him nodding his head satisfactorily.

"Good, because I wasn't going to," was the snarky reply, and Kagome almost wanted to reply to that. But the mood still hung heavy in the air. She believed he was trying to get some semblance of normalcy going, and she knew he was failing horribly. But why say it out loud? It would cement things, and Kagome didn't want that. She didn't want to cement Yamaguchi's surprised visit and Kaoru and Mr. Furiko's abusive spar.

She remembered him sitting by his desk and pulling out a couple of books, and she remembered settling back against the wooden headboard, just watching him work away. He was unsurprisingly dedicated, if baseball was any indication. _Maybe he just wants grades that will barely let him slide by. Like a steal to second base._ She remembered almost laughing at her own pun.

The last thing she remembered as she drifted off to sleep was how sad the atmosphere really was, and maybe he really wasn't any different from her at all, and maybe he really knew what she was dealing with, all the topsy-turvy emotions and anger spurts.

Because it just wasn't normal to have such a self-destructive family like either one of them.

When Kagome woke up much, much later, it was five o'clock in the morning, two hours before she usually woke up in her own room. The next thing she realized was that she was still lying on Inuyasha's bed. Which only meant that she had slept there the entire night. _He was supposed to wake me so I could sleep on the floor_. Kagome looked at the spot beside her and frowned; no one had slept there. She peeked over on the edge of the mattress and discovered him curled on the rug, a pillow stolen from somewhere and nothing to cover him.

Her heart thumped deafeningly, and all she could think was, _He took my spot?_

When Inuyasha woke up at seven, the window was open, and a chilly breeze was whispering in the room.

-


End file.
